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Correggio. 



Holy Night. 



SKETCHES OF GREAT 
PAINTERS 

FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 

BY 

COLONNA MURRAY DALLIN 



WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS 
FROM THE GREAT MASTERS 




SILVER, BURDETT AND COMPANY 

NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Received 

IUN. 4 1902 

Copyright entry 

CLASS O-XXa No. 

COPY B. 



*S 






Copyright, 1902, 
By SILVER, BUKDETT AND COMPANY. 



Ea tije JHcmorg of 
LAEKIN DUNTON, LL.D. 

WITH A DEEP APPRECIATION OF HIS AID AND INTEREST 
IN THE WORK 

Efym Sketches arc UcBtcateU 

BY HIS GRATEFUL PUPIL AND FRIEND 



PREFACE. 

Pictures should play an important part in the edu- 
cation of young people. The study of the art treasures 
of the world, revealing, as they do, the thoughts and 
feelings of great men of all ages and climes, helps 
greatly in the development of mind and character. 
Such study not only is a source of pleasure, but leads 
to a deeper knowledge of nature and of life, for the 
artist stands as an interpreter between nature and man. 

The primary object of this book is to interest young 
people in the lives and the works of some of the mas- 
ters of painting. A secondary object is to aid them 
in making collections of photographs. This work is 
of real value to them, and they should be encouraged 
in it, for it is through familiarity with pictures that 
one learns to understand and love them. 

At the end of the book is placed a list of pictures, 
photographs of which are recommended for mounting. 
In choosing photographs, care should be taken to select 
those which are reproductions from the original pic- 
tures, and not from engravings or copies. The photo- 
graphs recommended for mounting and many others 
mentioned in the volume may be obtained of Messrs. 
C. H. Dunton & Co., Boston, Mass., to whom thanks 
are due for their courtesy in supplying many of the 
photographs used in illustrating this book. 

C. M. D. 
Boston, 1902. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Giotto 1 

II. Fra Angelico 18 

III. Leonardo da Vinci 31 

IV. Michelangelo 46 

V. Raphael 64 

VI. CORREGGIO 79 

VII. Titian 88 

VIII. Veronese 103 

IX. Hubert and Jan van Eyck .... 114 

X. Rubens 124 

XL Van Dyck . 137 

XII. Ruisdael 146 

XIII. Rembrandt 153 

XIV. Durer 167 

XV. Holbein . . . 180 

XVI. Velasquez 193 

XVII. Murillo . . . 205 

XVIII. Claude Lorraine 218 

XIX. Millet 226 

XX. Sir Joshua Reynolds ...... 241 

XXI. Turner 253 

A List of Important Works by the Painters treated 

in this Volume 267 

Pronunciation of Proper Names 281 

Index 285 

ix 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Holy Night. Correggio Frontispiece 

PAGE 

The Madonna. Cimabue . . . . . . . . 5 

Joachim retiring to the Sheepfold. Giotto .... 10 

The Coronation of the Virgin. Giotto 13 
Angel from the " Madonna of the Great Tabernacle." Fra 

Angelico '. . . . „ 21 

The Coronation of the Virgin. Fra Angelico ... 22 

Hospitality. Fra Angelico . 25 

Angels from the " Baptism of Christ." Leonardo da Vinci . 33 

The Head of Christ. Leonardo da Vinci .... 38 

Mona Lisa. Leonardo da Vinci 43 

Adam. Michelangelo ........ 51 

Zach arias. Michelangelo 57 

Christ in the " Last Judgment." Michelangelo ... 60 

The Madonna of the Chair. Raphael 67 

Portrait of Himself. Raphael. Uffizi 73 

The Sistine Madonna. Raphael 77 

The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine. Correggio . . 83 

Cupids sharpening their Arrows. Correggio .... 86 

Flora. Titian 91 

The Assumption of the Virgin. Titian 94 

St. Christopher. Titian 97 

The Girl in Black. Veronese 106 

The Rape of Europa: Veronese 109 

xi 



xii ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

The Madonna and Donor. Van Eyck 116 

St. Cecilia. Van Eyck 121 

The Straw Hat. Rubens , 128 

The Descent from the Cross. Rubens 131 

St. Cecilia. Rubens ........ 135 

The Children of Charles I. Van Dyck. Turin . . . 138 

Gervartius. Van Dyck . 141 

The Repose in Egypt. Van Dyck 144 

View of a River. Ruisdael ...... 148 

The Hunt. Ruisdael 151 

Portrait of Himself. Rembrandt. National Gallery . . 157 

The Disciples at Emmaus. Rembrandt 162 

The Syndics of the Cloth Hall. Rembrandt . . . .165 

Portrait of Himself. Diirer. Munich ..... 170 

St. John and St. Peter. Diirer 176 

St. Paul and St. Mark. Diirer 177 

The Meyer Madonna. Holbein 183 

Nicholas Kratzer. Holbein 186 

Anne of Cleves. Holbein 191 

The Infanta Margarita. Velasquez 197 

iEsop. Velasquez 201 

The Immaculate Conception. Murillo. Louvre . . . 208 

St. Anthony of Padua. Murillo. Seville Cathedral . . 211 

The Christ Child in the " Holy Family." Murillo . . 215 

The Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba. Claude Lorraine 223 

The Sower. Millet 230 

The Gleaners. Millet 237 

The Duchess of Devonshire and her Child. Reynolds . . 245 

The Angel Choir. Reynolds 250 

The Fighting Temeraire. Turner 258 

The Shipwreck. Turner 261 



SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 



I. GIOTTO. 

1276-1337. 

Over six hundred years ago, a little boy named 
Giotto used to tend his sheep in the pastures of Ves- 
pignano, a district in Italy, about fourteen miles from 
Florence. He was born in the year 1276, and his 
father, whose name was Bondone, lived on a small farm 
in the village of Del Colle. Giotto was a bright boy, 
and he was a favorite in the village, for he always had 
a merry smile and a pleasant word for everybody. 
When he was about ten years old, his father gave him 
the charge of a few sheep, and he was never happier 
than when wandering over the hills and meadows with 
them. While tending his sheep, he used often to take 
a pointed stone and try to draw trees, flowers, and 
whatever pleased his fancy on the large flat pieces of 
slate he found about him in the fields. 

One day wdiile Giotto was making a sketch of one 
of the sheep that were quietly grazing before him, 
Cimabue, a man of noble birth and the greatest Floren- 
tine painter of the day, came riding across the country 
from Vespignano to Florence. Giotto was so intent on 
his work that he did not notice Cimabue's approach, 
until the painter was near enough to catch a glimpse of 



2 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

the drawing. He evidently saw something unusual 
in it, for he rode up to Giotto and began to talk with 
him. At first the boy must have been a little ashamed 
to have a man like Cimabue see his drawing, but doubt- 
less he forgot his embarrassment while he listened to the 
great painter, who became as interested in the young 
peasant himself as in the drawing on the stone. 

After talking with Giotto for some time, Cimabue 
was so pleased with him and felt so much confidence in 
him that he said, " Will you go with me, my boy, to my 
home in Florence, and let me teach you how to draw 
and paint ? " Giotto's face, plain as it was, must have 
looked interesting at that moment, as he replied, with a 
heart full of delight and gratitude, " I will go willingly 
and gladly if my father will give his consent." Cima- 
bue readily gained Bondone's consent, and Giotto soon 
began his career as a painter. 

Little did the noble Florentine realize that the world 
in later times would reverence him more because he 
was the master of this shepherd boy whom he dis- 
covered in the fields near Vespignano, than for his own 
paintings. 

Giotto must have dreamed many dreams of his future 
during the hours that passed before he started for 
Florence. At length the time came, and he began his 
work in Cimabue's workshop. He was not immediately 
set to drawing from nature, as a student in a painter's 
studio would do nowadays ; but before he was allowed to 
use a pencil or a brush, he was obliged to spend several 
years in doing the work of an apprentice. He mixed 
and ground his master's colors, washed his brushes and 
palette, swept the studio, and ran on errands. Doubt- 



GIOTTO. 6 

less he sometimes became impatient and wished himself 
back among the green fields of Vespignano ; but then 
the thought of the days to come when he should paint 
great pictures, like his master's, would spur him on to 
do his tasks faithfully and learn all he could. When 
Cimabue was at work painting frescoes in churches, 
Giotto helped him to mix his colors and to prepare the 
walls, and he learned a great deal from what he saw. 
In his leisure time, he used to go to see the greatest 
pictures in Florence, and he studied them so often 
and so earnestly that they became as familiar to him 
as friends. 

It was before Cimabue's greatest picture of the 
Madonna that Giotto lingered the longest. In this 
picture the Madonna is represented against a back- 
ground of gold, seated on a grand throne upheld by 
adoring angels. On her knees is seated the infant 
Jesus, stretching forth his hand in blessing. The frame 
is adorned with medallion heads of prophets, saints, and 
apostles. 

This picture won for Cimabue great fame. Before 
it was uncovered to the public, Charles of Anjou, the 
brother of the French king, Louis IX., was passing 
through Florence, and he was taken to the painter's 
house to see it. Crowds of people followed him, and 
the picture was shown to them. As it was the largest 
picture of the kind that had ever been painted, and as 
the Italians considered Cimabue their greatest painter, 
it aroused, enthusiastic admiration. There were such 
rejoicings and festivities at the painter's house that the 
neighborhood was called the " Borgo Allegri," meaning 
the joyous suburb, and it still bears that name. Some 



4 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

time after this, amid tlie blowing of trumpets and 
showers of garlands, the painting was carried by the 
people in a triumphal procession from the studio to the 
Church of Santa Maria Novella. There Giotto went 
again and again to see it. 

For hundreds of years, artists had been painting pic- 
tures very much like Cimabue's Madonna, because they 
had been taught to paint according to rules, instead of 
painting things as they saw them in nature. These 
rules had been taught by Greek artists, who in the first 
centuries after Christ went to Byzantium, as Constanti- 
nople was then called, and founded a school of art 
there. The Byzantine artists were employed by the 
Christians to decorate their first churches, and the 
pictures they painted became the models which were 
followed in all early Christian art. 

At first, when Giotto went into the churches and 
the chapels decorated by the Byzantine painters, he 
must have been awed by the grandeur and gorgeous- 
ness which seemed to pervade everything. The colors 
used in the decorations were all dark and rich, and the 
pictures were made splendid by the use of a great deal 
of gold on the backgrounds, draperies, and halos around 
the heads of saints. The young painter noticed with 
admiration the exquisite skill with which the details of 
the pictures were painted, and he must have longed to 
be able to paint pictures like those he saw. 

But as time went on and he studied more carefully 
the faces and forms in the pictures, he was disap- 
pointed ; for the faces were all calm and expression- 
less, the figures were all draped and posed in the same 
monotonous way, and the hands and feet were unnatural 




The Madonna. 



6 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

in drawing. He was often oppressed by the melancholy, 
unreal world which they represented, and he was glad 
to get out into the sunlight and see the varied, active 
life of the Florentine streets. 

At length Giotto had learned all that Cimabue could 
teach him and all that he could learn from the pictures 
in Florence. During the years he had been studying, 
he had questioned many times why artists were will- 
ing to keep on doing the same things over and over. 
Sometimes he talked with his old master about it, and 
said that he thought artists had been bound by rules 
long enough, and that he intended to try to paint the 
world as he saw it, with all its life and beauty. Cima- 
bue encouraged him, and afterward looked on with 
pride as he saw his pupil do greater work than he him- 
self had ever done. 

When Giotto's days of apprenticeship were over, how 
eagerly he must have waited for his first commission to 
paint ! At last it came, and after that a long life of 
activity lay before him. 

One of his first works called him to Assisi. In this 
town there had lived in the thirteenth century a man 
known as St. Francis, who devoted his life to the poor 
and friendless. Many men followed his teachings, and 
an order of monks was founded and named for him. 
After his death, in 1226, two churches were built as a 
memorial to him, one above the other on the hillside of 
Assisi. Giotto first painted a series of frescoes in the 
upper church, where his master had painted years 
before. Later he went again to Assisi, and painted 
some of his finest pictures in the lower church. They 
represent scenes from the life of St. Francis, and 



GIOTTO. 7 

explain the vows taken by the monks of the Franciscan 
order. The pictures are painted in triangular spaces 
in the roof, over the high altar. The subjects are 
Poverty, Chastity, Obedience, and St. Francis Enthroned 
in Heaven. 

As soon as Giotto's work became known, his pictures 
were in great demand, for no artist in Italy had ever 
painted with such power. As he went about from city 
to city, he left behind him, on the walls of palaces and 
churches, records of great and beautiful thoughts ; and 
what had before been bare and unlovely, at his touch 
became bright and beautiful with lively scenes. By his 
pictures the stories and teachings of the Bible, and the 
legends of saints and heroes were taught to a people 
who could not read ; and they were a source of inspira- 
tion to Italian artists for several centuries after his 
death. 

In 1303 Enrico Scrovegni, a rich citizen of Padua, 
erected a chapel in honor of the Madonna. It was 
built on the site of an old arena in Padua, and was 
called the Arena Chapel. To Giotto was given the 
commission to decorate the interior of the building, and 
it is in this chapel that his work can best be seen and 
studied. At Assisi and other places he painted por- 
tions of walls, or carried out plans and designs of other 
artists ; but in the Arena Chapel he was his own master, 
and could follow the bent of his own genius. He deco- 
rated the entire chapel from the vaulted roof, which 
was studded with medallion heads, to the lowest row 
of paintings on the walls. 

There are over fifty pictures in this chapel. Thirty- 
eight of these are arranged in three rows. Those in 



8 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

the first row represent scenes from the life of Joachim 
and Anna, the father and mother of the Virgin ; those in 
the second row, scenes from the life of the Virgin ; and 
those in the third row, scenes from the life of Christ. 
Over the door is a picture of the Last Judgment, repre- 
senting heaven and hell. Below these three rows is a 
series of smaller pictures. They are painted in mono- 
chrome, or in the different shades of one color, and in 
them the vices and the virtues are personified. The 
Vices face the part of the Last Judgment that pictures 
hell, and the Virtues face the part representing heaven. 
The whole effect of these frescoes is one of life and 
light and color. The figures seem to stand in full 
sunlight, and they represent men and women acting 
and feeling as they did in the Florence that Giotto 
knew so well. 

The frescoes in the Arena Chapel, like many of the 
wall paintings of the early Italian artists, were painted 
on walls prepared in the following way : They were 
first covered with a coating of plaster, which, after it 
was dry, was rubbed with pumice stone until it was 
smooth ; then just before the artist began his work, the 
space he intended to decorate was moistened once or 
twice. The colors were mineral colors, mixed with 
water and glue, and were laid on while the plaster was 
still moist and fresh. Hence the name fresco, an Italian 
word meaning fresh, was applied to wall pictures painted 
in this manner. 

Giotto lived in a time of war and discord ; the 
opposing factions — the Guelfs and the Ghibellines — 
were constantly embroiled in quarrels, and they fought 
from house to house. There were, besides, many people 



GIOTTO. 9 

who followed the example of St. Francis and devoted 
themselves to religion. They often spent days and 
nights alone on mountain tops in prayer and in medi- 
tating on the glories of heaven and the horrors of hell. 
The visions that came to these religious enthusiasts 
greatly influenced the minds of the people. The pecul- 
iar ideas of his day are reflected in many of Giotto's 
pictures. 

The second picture in the first series of frescoes on 
the walls of the Arena Chapel represents Joachim Re- 
tiring to the Sheepfold. According to the story related 
in the Apocrypha, Joachim on a certain feast day car- 
ried his offering to the Temple as was his wont, but the 
high priest refused it, saying, " It is not lawful for thee 
to bring thine offering, seeing that thou hast no off- 
spring." Joachim turned away very sorrowful, and 
after searching the records found that he alone of all 
righteous men was childless. Then he went off among 
the shepherds and built himself a hut, and fasted forty 
days and forty nights, saying, " Until the Lord look 
upon me mercifully, prayer shall be my meat and 
drink." 

Giotto represents the old man walking slowly, with 
clown-bent head, toward the shepherds, who look at 
each other with questioning glances. He has made 
his face and form express deep sorrow and humilia- 
tion. The drapery is simple and graceful, Joachim's 
head is fine and strong, and there is an expression of 
dignity and power about the whole figure. The dog 
running to meet his master is full of life, though he is 
curiously drawn, as are also the sheep, which look like 
toys from a Noah's ark. However, these were among 



10 



SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 



the first representations of animals in pictures, and 
they are interesting for this reason. The trees and the 
rocks in the background are as unlike nature as 
the animals, but they certainly help to make the scene 
seem real. 




Joachim Retiring to the Sheepkold. 

This picture shows some of the ways in which Giotto 
helped to free art from its stiffness and unnaturalness. 
He discarded the gold background, and placed his 
figures beneath the blue sky ; he placed them in a real 
world, with trees and rocks and animals about them ; 
and in painting them he used clear, pure colors far 



GIOTTO. 11 

more harmoniously than any other artist of his time. 
But above all he tried by the gestures and the expres- 
sion of his figures to show action and feeling, so that 
the picture should tell the story vividly. 

The Entombment, another picture in the Arena Chapel, 
is remarkable for the way in which Giotto has expressed 
the intense sorrow of the " beloved disciple," St. John, 
who is about to throw himself on the body of Christ 
in an agony of grief. 

" No man," says Ruskin, " has expressed so much by 
a single action as Giotto has done." This dramatic 
power, or the power to express action and feeling, is the 
new element that Giotto introduced into art, and it is 
for this that he is called the father of modern art. 

In Florence are many of Giotto's works, and the 
most noted of these are in the chapels of the Church of 
Santa Croce. His greatest panel picture is there. It 
is in five compartments and was painted on wood in 
tempera, or distemper, as it is called ; that is, it was 
painted on a surface covered with a smooth coating of 
plaster, the colors being mixed with the white of an 
egg or some other gelatinous substance, and laid on 
when the surface was dry. The central panel, which is 
larger than the others, represents the Coronation of the 
Virgin. In the other compartments are groups of 
saints and angels rejoicing in the event. 

Giotto was not only a painter, but an architect and 
sculptor as well ; and in whatever he was called upon 
to do, he always showed the same spirit and enthusiasm. 
In 1384 he was appointed chief master of the cathe- 
dral works, the city fortifications, and all public archi- 
tectural undertakings in Florence. The document 



12 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

which records his appointment renders affectionate 
homage to him as the "great and dear master." From 
that time Giotto's work was largely confined to architec- 
ture and sculpture, and the buildings that he designed 
and the statues he made are as interesting to study as 
his paintings. One of the best known of his works is 
the great and beautiful Bell Tower beside the Cathedral 
of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, which inspired 
Longfellow's exquisite sonnet: — 

******* 

" In the old Tuscan town stands Giotto's tower, 
The lily of Florence blossoming in stone, — 
A vision, a delight, and a desire, — 
The builder's perfect and centennial flower, 
That in the night of ages bloomed alone, 
But wanting still the glory of the spire." 

Giotto, as a man, was as happy and as much beloved 
as he was when a boy. Everywhere he was welcomed 
as the " great and dear master, who went about with 
a jest on his lips and beautiful thoughts in his heart." 
Many stories are told of how he was courted by the 
greatest men of his time, who enjoyed his merry wit 
and his simple, good heart. Every city that he visited 
has some tale to' tell about him. From Naples comes a 
story of the days when he was painting frescoes for 
the king, who enjoyed visiting the painter while he 
was at work, and was amused by his good sense and 
flashes of wit. " If I were you," said King Robert, one 
very hot day, " I would leave off work and rest myself." — 
" And so would I, sire, if I were you" replied Giotto. 

Another story is as follows : The reigning Pope, 




The Coronation of the Virgin. 



13 



14 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

wishing to Lave some great decorative work done, sent 
a messenger to the various artists in Florence and 
Sienna, to collect from them the best specimens of art 
that could be procured. One day while Giotto was 
working in his studio, the envoy came to him and asked 
for an example of his work. Giotto looked at the mes- 
senger, and then with a smile on his face "he took a 
piece of paper, and putting his arm close to his side, to 
make it like a compass, he drew with a brush full of red 
color, and by a turn of his hand, a circle so round and 
perfect that it was a marvel to see. This done, he said 
to the courtier, ' Here is the drawing.' — ' Am I to have 
nothing but this ? ' said the other, stupefied. — ' That is 
enough, and too much,' said Giotto, ' seiufit with the 
others and see if it will be understood.'" The story 
goes on to say that it was so well understood that 
Giotto obtained the commission. 

This incident has given rise to an Italian proverb, 
used to characterize people who are dull and stupid. 
The saying is, " Round as the O of Giotto," and its 
significance comes from the fact that the word to ado, 
which in the Tuscan dialect means slowness of intel- 
lect, also means an exact circle. 

From the days of the Greek Zeuxis, who is said to 
have painted grapes so cleverly that the birds came 
and pecked at them, celebrated painters have had sim- 
ilar stories told of them. Giotto is not an exception. 
When he was a boy studying under Cimabue, he is said 
to have painted a fly on the nose of a figure on which 
the painter was at work, in so lifelike a manner that 
he had the pleasure of standing by and watching his 
master try several times to brush it off. 



GIOTTO. 15 

As Giotto was a very modest man and would not even 
assume the title of Magister, or Master, to which he 
had a right, he was naturally impatient with people 
who tried to appear finer than they really were. One 
day a rude workman brought him a shield on which he 
ordered his arms painted. Giotto was puzzled by the 
request, and feared that he might be the victim of a 
jest ; so he painted the various pieces of armor that 
the man would use. When the workman saw not a 
coat of arms, but swords and other armor painted on 
his shield, he was angry and would not pay the 
painter's price for the work. It ended in both parties 
going to court ; but Giotto was such a good story- 
teller, and he made the man seem so presumptuous and 
vain, that he won the day, and the man was obliged to 
pay for the painting. 

While Giotto's friends were making enemies and 
sighing that the times were " out of joint," Giotto was 
unperturbed and took whatever came to him in a phil- 
osophical or merry spirit, letting nothing disturb his 
good nature. One day he was walking along the 
street, talking to a friend, when suddenly he stopped 
in order to bring his story to a climax. Just at that 
moment a pig ran between his legs and knocked him 
over. He picked himself up, and laughingly said, " The 
pig has the right of way, for I have earned thousands 
of scudi from his bristles, while I have done nothing 
for him or his kin." 

Giotto's ugliness of face and ungainly figure gave 
rise in his day to many a jest. The following story 
shows how he once had a chance to laugh back. One 
day he and a friend, who was a very learned man but 



16 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

more unprepossessing even than Giotto in appearance, 
were riding home upon their mules after inspecting 
their cornfields. They joined company and were soon 
overtaken by a heavy shower. As they were anxious 
to return to Florence, they each borrowed a cloak and 
an old hat from a farmer, and continued their journey, 
which Giotto enlivened by telling some merry tale. 
After he had finished, his friend scanned him from 
head to foot, and, unconscious of the droll spectacle 
he himself presented, bursting into a fit of laughter 
said, " Do you think any one meeting you for the first 
time would believe that you are the best painter in the 
world?" — " Yes," said Giotto, promptly, "if he could 
believe that you knew your ABC." 

Giotto's friends were among the most distinguished 
men of his day. Among them was Dante, the greatest 
of the Italian poets. These two lived together while 
Giotto was painting in the Arena Chapel, and they met 
in several Italian cities. Giotto's works are said to 
show the influence of Dante's mighty conceptions, and 
the intercourse must have been mutually inspiring. 
How glad the world would be to have some record of 
their conversations while Giotto was engaged in paint- 
ing his famous portrait of the poet ! The original or a 
copy of this portrait was discovered long afterward in 
Florence on the walls of the Chapel of the Podesta, 
commonly called the Bargello. It was in the fresco of 
Paradise, which was probably painted by Giotto and 
liis pupils about 1300. Several other portraits of men 
living at the time were introduced into the fresco. 
This was unusual in those days, and was, in fact, one 
of the first instances of such a use of portraits. The 



GIOTTO. 17 

fresco shows us Dante as he was in early manhood, 
before sorrows and misfortunes had furrowed his face. 
It was covered with whitewash for over two hundred 
years, but in 1840 it was once more revealed to the 
world, though in a mutilated condition. 

Of Giotto's family life, little is known except that he 
had a wife and eight children, one of whom became a 
painter. In the year 1337 Giotto died, but the influ- 
ence of his strong, creative work was enduring ; and 
the charm of his character with its mingling of wit, 
common sense, and rare artistic ability is all the more 
striking because of the gloom and tragedy of the times 
in which he lived. 



II. FRA ANGELICO. 

1387-1455. 

One morning in the year 1407, two young men 
ascended the hillside of Fiesole, a town overlooking 
Florence, and entered the gate of the convent of 
St. Dominic. The elder of the two, who was twenty 
years old, was named Guido ; and he and his brother 
had decided to prepare themselves to become monks. 
They were gladly welcomed at St. Dominic, for Guido 
had already gained considerable reputation as a painter. 
Painters were in great demand, in those days, for the 
decoration of churches and monasteries, and a painter- 
monk was a valuable addition to a convent. 

Guido's first work in painting had been confined 
largely to the decoration of books of prayer and hymns. 
Such work was called illumination, and it was one of 
the chief occupations of monks. They adorned the 
pages of books with beautiful letters, having leaves and 
flowers twined about them in gold and colors ; also with 
heads of saints and angels, or little scenes suggested by 
the text, painted in the margins in the most delicate 
and exquisite fashion. 

Guido and his brother did not remain long at Fiesole. 
They went from there to Foligno, and afterward to 
Cortona, where they took vows in 1-408, and received 
the names of Fra, or Brother, Giovanni, and Fra Bene- 
detto. Fra Giovanni is best known to the world as Fra 
18 



FRA ANGELICO. 19 

Angelico, or Da Fiesole. He was born in Vicchio, a 
fortified town among the Apennines, not far from the 
birthplace of Giotto. Of his father, nothing is known 
except that his Christian name was Pietro. 

Before entering the convent, Fra Angelico had studied 
in Florence, but it is not known to what master he owed 
his early training. While there, he must have felt, to 
some degree at least, the influence of a new school of 
Florentine painters, who were more interested in trying 
to solve the problems of art than in the subjects they 
were painting. His removal to Cortona took him away 
from his brother artists in Florence ; but, on the other 
hand, he constantly saw there the works of Giotto and 
his school. This was the turning-point in Fra Angelico's 
career; from that time he painted in a religious spirit 
the teachings of the Church, and was untroubled by 
the problems that were vexing the Florentine painters. 
At Cortona he performed his duties as a monk faith- 
fully, and he found time, also, to adorn the Church of St. 
Dominic with frescoes. With what delight must he 
have given up illuminating manuscripts to engage in 
this greater work ! 

Fra Angelico and his brother monks returned to Fie- 
sole in 1418, after an absence of ten years. Additions 
and changes were made in the convent at this time, and 
the painter-monk was soon at work, making the walls 
beautiful with the angelic hosts and visions of Paradise 
that filled his imagination. Here he continued to live 
for eighteen years, simply and humbly, praying and 
painting with the same devout spirit. 

The convent of St. Dominic is halfway up the hill of 
Fiesole ; and as Fra Angelico looked out from the nar- 



20 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

row window of his cell, or walked on the terrace, a beau- 
tiful scene met his eyes. Below him lay the valley of 
the Arno, with the Apennines in the far distance ; and 
nearer, the vine-clad foothills and the city of Florence. 
It was a scene of verdure and sunlight and bloom. 
What delight his beauty-loving soul must have found 
in the ever varying landscape, glowing with the gor- 
geous colors of sunrise and sunset, sleeping in the silver 
moonlight, or mysterious and beautiful in the hazes and 
mists of summer ! May it not be that the peace and 
loveliness of such scenes helped him to give expression 
to the visions of heavenly beauty which are the theme 
of his paintings? 

Fra Angelico's work became widely known and greatly 
admired. In 1433 a company of flax merchants, wish- 
ing an altarpiece painted, gave the commission to him. 
This painting is called the Madonna of the Great Taber- 
nacle. It represents the Madonna enthroned, with the 
Infant Jesus. Around the central group are twelve 
angels, two in attitudes of praise and the rest playing 
upon musical instruments. The picture is rich and 
magnificent in all its details. The Virgin's mantle is 
blue, embroidered with gold, and the background is a 
curtain of cloth of gold. The angels, with their flame- 
tipped foreheads, and with their wings tinted like early 
spring flowers, are so lovely and graceful that they seem 
"rained down from heaven." 

The painting of the Coronation represents Christ and 
the Virgin resting on light clouds, and surrounded by 
a brilliant glory which radiates from them and floods 
the whole picture with golden light. The Savior is 
adding one more jewel to the Madonna's crown, and 




Fra Angelica. 
Angel from the "Madonna of the Great Tabernacle. 



22 



SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 



groups of angels join in praise and adoration around 
the throne. Below are two groups of saints, bearing 
the symbols of their purity or martyrdom. The pic- 
ture wins admiration for the picturesque grouping of 




Fra Angelico. 



The Coronation of the Virgin. 



the lovely saints and angels, and for the sweet humility 
of the Virgin Mother. 

While at Fiesole Fra Angelico also painted for the 
doors of closets in the Sacristy of the Annuziata, where 
the silver used in the church service was kept, thirty- 



FRA ANGELICO. 23 

five little pictures representing the Last Judgment and 
scenes in the life of Christ. These required much 
thought and care in their execution, and were faith- 
fully and exquisitely painted. 

The brotherhood of monks at Fiesole had longed for 
many years to go to the convent of San Marco, in Flor- 
ence, and make their home there. In 1436 their wish 
was granted, for Pope Eugene IV. gave the convent of 
San Marco to the Dominican order. They heard the 
news with rejoicing, and gathering together their few 
belongings, they started for Florence. As the long 
procession of monks, in the black and white robes of 
the order, passed on their way, the hillsides resounded 
with psalms of praise and thanksgiving. 

When the monks reached their new home, they were 
doubtless a little disheartened, for the convent was 
dilapidated and unfit for habitation. However, Cosimo 
de' Medici, the great and rich merchant-prince of Flor- 
ence, rebuilt the convent for them. In the meantime, 
the monks encamped round about in huts, and watched 
and aided the work. Cosimo de' Medici took a lively 
interest in the rebuilding of the convent, and when the 
walls were ready for decoration, he chose Fra Angelico 
to paint the frescoes. By the time the convent was 
ready for the monks, some of the frescoes had alread} r 
been painted ; but a great deal of work remained to be 
done, and Fra Angelico did the larger part of it. 

With what interest the monks must have arranged 
their new home ! At last their tables and crucifixes 
and books were put in place, and all settled down to 
their various tasks. As the painter looked down from 
his scaffolding, he saw, day after day, the same scene, 



24 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

— the scribe copying manuscript after manuscript ; the 
illuminator bending over his page and decorating it 
with delicate and beautiful designs ; the preacher, in 
some quiet corner, thinking over his sermon ; and other 
monks going in and out of the door on the business of 
the convent. We may be sure that they all paused in 
their work, now and then, to watch the progress of the 
painting, and that many were the comments and ex- 
pressions of admiration when the staging was removed 
and a new fresco was revealed to them. Many a time 
•they must have turned back to their work refreshed 
and inspired by what they had seen. 

In most convents there are covered arcades, where the 
monks walk about, and read, and study. On the walls 
of the arcades, or cloisters, at San Marco are many 
pictures, but only one was painted by Fra Angelico. 
This is the Crucifixion on the wall at one end of the 
cloister. It represents Christ upon the cross, with 
drooping head, expressing the deepest, tenderest sub- 
mission. St. Dominic kneels at the base of the cross, 
embracing it, and gazing upward with passionate adora- 
tion. This figure of St. Dominic seems to express the 
ideal of monastic life, the complete consecration of 
the whole being to religion. 

In the lunettes, or spaces over the doors leading from 
the cloisters into the rooms of the convent, Fra Angelico 
painted three simple but impressive pictures, reminding 
his own brethren and Dominicans of all times of their 
vows. Over one door, St. Peter, martyr, with his 
finger on his lips, is a symbol of the vow of Silence; 
over the door leading to the room where strangers 
were received, two Dominicans receiving Christ as a 



FRA ANGELICO. 



25 



pilgrim, represent Hospitality ; and over a third door, 
leading to the chapter room, stands St. Dominic holding 
a whip of cat o' nine tails, the symbol of the Discipline 
of the order. 

In the chapter house is another picture of the Cruci- 
fixion by Angelico. This composition is far larger and 
more ambitious than the one in the cloister. It repre- 




Fra Angelico. 



Hospitality. 



sents the whole scene on Calvary, with Christ on the 
cross between the two thieves. At the base of the 
cross is a death's head, which marks the consequences 
of sin. A beautiful group is formed by the swooning 
Virgin, supported by the two Marys. On one side 
are St. John the Baptist, St. Mark, St. Lawrence, and 
the two patron saints of the Medici family, — St. 



26 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

Dominic and St. Cosimo. On the opposite side are 
figures of various other saints, most of whom are 
founders of monastic orders. The whole composition 
is framed by a border composed of medallion heads of 
prophets. The groups of saints are picturesque and 
noble, but there is a lack of dramatic power in the 
picture. The groups do not draw the attention toward 
what should be the central point of interest in the 
picture, — the figure of the crucified Christ, — and the 
story is not told with intensity. Some one has said 
that Giotto painted dramas and that Fra Angelico 
painted hymns ; and the holy friar was certainly more 
successful when he painted less stirring scenes than 
this. 

The dormitory where the monks slept was at first 
one large room, like a ward in a hospital. Each monk 
had his own narrow window, his bed, and a picture on 
the wall painted by Fra Angelico. There were thirty- 
five frescoes in the room, which, after a time, was di- 
vided into separate cells. Here was painted the life of 
Christ, each cell containing one page of the wonderful 
story. Among the pictures in the cells that are most 
admired are the Adoration of the Kings, Christ in the 
Garden, the Coronation of the Virgin, and the Annuncia- 
tion. The painter-monk was no preacher, but his pic- 
tares were more eloquent than many sermons, and his 
brother monks must surely have blessed him for the 
unspoken messages of love and peace that greeted 
their waking eyes. 

The Annunciation of San Marco shows Fra Angelico 
in a subject suited to his powers. He possessed himself 
the very qualities which helped him to paint angels as 



FRA ANGELICO. 27 

people in those days imagined them. His angels are 
lovely beings, all submission and tenderness and purity, 
with radiant faces full of sweet peace and celestial 
beauty. Such is the angel of the Annunciation who 
bears the message to the Virgin, by whom it is received 
with meekness and reverence. 

The Adoration of the Kings is in a larger cell which 
was used by Cosimo de' Medici when he came to the 
convent to consult with the prior or with Fra Angel- 
ico. When Pope Eugenius IV. went to San Marco 
to consecrate it in 1414, he was received in this cell, 
and this picture was painted in commemoration of the 
event. 

In San Marco also is the beautiful Madonna delta 
Stella, or Madonna of the /Stars, a small movable, or 
easel picture, painted on wood. It is one of the friar's 
most exquisite works, and was originally intended for 
the Church of Santa Maria Novella. The Mother is 
full of sweet seriousness, and the Child is playfully 
affectionate. The angels are beautiful, and remind one 
of those in the Madonna of the Grreat Tabernacle. The 
picture is so exquisitely painted, the colors are so deli- 
cate, and the gold ornamentation is so splendid that it 
seems like a richly illuminated page of an old monkish 
missal. 

The works in San Marco show the monk's power as 
a painter, and they show his weakness as well. He 
failed always when he tried to express anger or sin or 
suffering ; and except in his later works, his represen- 
tations of Christ are lacking in dignity and strength. 
In his several pictures of the Last Judgment, he painted 
the groups of the blessed in Paradise as no one else 



28 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

has ever painted them ; but he was powerless to repre- 
sent the Inferno with its groups of sinners. 

In 144(5 the Pope called the painter to Rome, and 
there he remained, with the exception of a few brief 
intervals spent at Orvieto and Fiesole, until his death 
in 1455. 

In June, 1447, Fra Angelico entered into a contract 
which bound him to paint a new chapel at Orvieto with 
the aid of his pupil, Benozzo Gozzoli, and two assist- 
ants. In September of the same year, two compart- 
ments were finished ; and then, leaving designs for his 
pupil to carry out, he went back to Rome. The frescoes 
at Orvieto are among the most vigorous that the master 
painted. In one of them Christ is represented as the 
Judge of the world. He is seated on a cloud, encircled 
by a rainbow, on a background of gold. The figure of 
Christ is noble and full of solemn majesty, and His 
expression is one of loving tenderness as He raises His 
right hand in condemnation of the world. The hand 
itself seems to show more of sadness than of wrath in 
His judgment of men. The picture is very large, and 
the coloring is beautiful. 

At Rome, Fra Angelico was ordered by Nicholas V. 
to paint a chapel in the Vatican, which is the Pope's 
palace. The frescoes illustrate scenes from the lives 
of St. Stephen and St. Lawrence. The history of St. 
Stephen is painted on the upper part, and that of St. 
Lawrence below. At each side of the lower series of 
frescoes, on pilasters (square columns attached to the 
wall), are painted saints standing in niches. On the 
ceiling, which is azure and studded with stars, are repre- 
sented the four evangelists, — St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. 



FRA ANGELICO. 29 

Luke, and St. John, — with their symbols, — the angel, 
the lion, the ox", and the eagle. These frescoes have a 
power and dignity almost equal to his work at Orvieto. 
At a distance they have boldness and strength, while 
near at hand they reveal the most exquisite and deli- 
cate finish. Among the frescoes the most interesting- 
are St. Lawrence Distributing Alms and St. Stephen 
Preaching. 

This chapel was for a long time practically lost ; 
the key disappeared and the chapel was forgotten. 
At length it was discovered and entered by a window, 
and in course of time it became of great interest to 
lovers of art. 

Thus lived and worked the painter-monk. The name 
Angelico Avas given to him because of his saintly life, 
and because people believed he had communication with 
the angelic world. There is a legend often represented 
by artists, which tells how one day, when the monk was 
overcome by fatigue and sleep, angels came and finished 
his work for him. He lived a simple life, full of piety 
and kindness. He painted constantly, and always chose 
sacred subjects. He cared neither for riches nor for 
fame, and his pictures are such as could have been 
painted only by " one who breathed a prayer between 
the strokes of his brush." He did his work from pure 
devotion, and he gave the money he received from his 
many commissions for the good of the convent and the 
poor. Honors did not attract him. Even when the 
Pope offered him the archbishopric of Florence, he 
advised him to choose the good prior of San Marco 
in his stead. He never retouched or altered any work 
he had finished, for he believed that he painted as God 



80 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

willed. This belief that he was inspired gave to his 
work certain valuable qualities. It enabled him to 
paint with a certainty of touch and a grace and sim- 
plicity of line that are rarely found, and these impart 
an unusual charm to his pictures. 

Fra Angelico died in Home at the age of sixty-eight. 
He was buried in the Church of Santa Maria sopra 
Minerva, where a monument, bearing an inscription 
written by Nicholas V., was erected to his memory. 

Fra Angelico was the last and greatest of the school 
of artists who devoted themselves wholly to the por- 
trayal of the beauty of the spirit. Thenceforth the 
ideal of the painter was the beautiful soul dwelling 
in a beautiful body. 



III. LEONARDO DA VINCI. 

1452-1519. 

Iisr the works of the early Florentine artists, Giotto 
and Fra Angelico, were written the prophecies of a 
glorious future for Florentine painting. Their fulfill- 
ment came in the sixteenth century, when the four 
greatest spirits of the Renaissance — Leonardo da 
Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Correggio — lived 
and worked. 

Leonardo da Vinci began his career long before the 
others, who owed much to him for the strong original 
work that made their own paths far easier to follow. 
He was born in the castle of Vinci, in the Valdarno, 
in 1452. His father was a nobleman, and though his 
mother was of lower rank, this disadvantage of birth 
never seemed to be a drawback to him, such were the 
strength and charm of his personality. 

The beautiful child grew up at the castle, enjoying 
all the advantages of a nobleman's son. He took a 
lively interest in music and in all his studies, easily 
mastering everything he undertook. The father was 
very proud of his brilliant son, and as the boy showed 
ability in drawing, he apprenticed him to Verrochio, 
who was noted for his statue of David and for his 
equestrian statue of Colleoni. Leonardo was instructed 
by Verrochio in drawing and painting, and he made 
31 



32 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

rapid progress in them, as in everything else to which 
he bent his energies. 

The young Leonardo used to wander about the streets 
of Florence with his sketchbook hanging at his belt, 
interested in every spectacle that met his eyes. He 
was full of life, and made a striking figure ; for his 
handsome face, his vigorous and graceful form, and the 
charm of his whole bearing lent him an air of unusual 
distinction. His nature was gay and lively, and he was 
the leading spirit of whatever society he happened to 
be in. Trials of physical strength interested him as 
much as intellectual tasks, and he became so strong that 
he could bend a horseshoe like a strip of lead. 

As he walked about Florence, Leonardo had keen 
eyes for everything beautiful or grotesque. Lovely 
hair or a charming smile held him with peculiar fascina- 
tion, and he would follow the possessors of such charms, 
and would watch for them day after day until he could 
repeat their witchery on canvas. At other times, what 
was hideous and revolting attracted him ; and it is 
said that lie followed criminals to execution in order to 
learn how torture transformed their faces. Sometimes 
he would gather a group of peasants or working people 
together, and tell them funny stories, in order to study 
their expressions of laughter. He bought caged birds 
on the street out of pure love of seeing their joy 
at being set free. His open mind received myriads 
of impressions, many of which were recorded in his 
drawings and paintings. 

While Leonardo was studying under Verrochio, a rare 
opportunity came to him. His master was at the time 
engaged upon a picture of the Baptism of Christ, and 



34 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

the pupil was allowed to paint an angel in one of the 
corners. The result was a brilliant success for Leonardo. 
Indeed, it is said that when the master saw this radiant 
angel, which made all the rest of the picture seem cold 
and lifeless, he turned sadly away, and resolved to 
paint no more but to devote himself henceforth to 
sculpture — the art he had always loved best. 

Curiosity and an insatiable thirst for knowledge 
impelled Leonardo to make multitudes of experiments. 
One day, in his early youth, a peasant on his father's 
farm brought him a shield of figwood and asked him 
to paint a picture on it. Leonardo gathered together 
many loathsome little creatures that haunted the vine- 
yard, and set himself to the task of seeing what effect 
could be produced with such material. He succeeded 
in painting a picture so hideous that his father turned 
away from it in horror. This almost childish experi- 
ment may have suggested to him later the idea of the 
Medusa, a picture supposed to have been painted by 
Leonardo, in which the snake-crowned head of the 
monster is represented with poisonous vapor issuing 
from her livid lips. The snakes seem to be strangling 
each other in their efforts to escape from the awful 
form, while bats, mice, lizards, and toads gather about, 
fascinated by it. 

The experiments of his youth developed into serious 
investigations as the years went on. Not only was he 
deeply interested in architecture, sculpture, painting, 
music, and poetry ; but mathematics, science, and 
mechanics had ecp:ial attractions for him. In intel- 
lectual tasks nothing daunted him. His mind dwelt 
with delight on difficult problems, ranging from lift- 



LEONARDO DA VINCI. 35 

ing the Cathedral of Pisa by immense levers, to express- 
ing the subtle workings of the human mind as revealed 
on the countenance. Like most men of genius, he was 
far in advance of his time, and his mind reached forth 
to conclusions that were not accepted until many years 
afterward. He made plans for mills and water engines 
that should raise great weights and clean ports and har- 
bors. Among the numerous instances in which his plans 
were proved practicable in later times may be cited the 
building of the canal of the Arno, two hundred years 
after he proposed it. 

Leonardo left thirteen volumes of manuscripts, all 
written from right to left, which are now to be found 
in the various libraries of Europe. His writings on 
painting have been arranged and published in a volume 
called a "-Treatise on Painting." These manuscripts, 
with his drawings, bear witness to his untiring industry 
and constant search for knowledge in manifold directions. 

In connection with the art of painting he made 
many researches, discovering valuable things about the 
chemistry of color ; the laws of composition, or arrange- 
ment of figures or objects in a picture ; the laws of 
perspective, or the appearance of objects at a distance ; 
and the laws of light. He was the first artist who com- 
pletely grasped the problem of representing objects so 
that they seemed to be surrounded by space. His 
experiments with colors were not always successful, 
and some of his strongest works have suffered much 
from the fading and changing of the colors. He 
always used oil colors or tempera in preference to 
fresco painting, and in places exposed to dampness 
his works have been much impaired. 



36 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

After Leonardo's apprenticeship was over, and he had 
remained some time in Florence executing orders for 
pictures and portraits, he felt that if he could attach 
himself to some court, his position would be more 
assured. Accordingly he wrote to the Duke of Milan, 
who had gathered about him a group of brilliant men, 
and told him of his qualifications for entering his ser- 
vice. In his letter he showed what remarkable acquire- 
ments he possessed at the age of thirty-one. He spoke 
of his skill as a military and civil engineer, as an archi- 
tect, and of his knowledge of mechanics. He also wrote : 
" I understand the different modes of sculpture in 
marble, bronze, and terra cotta. In painting, also, I 
may esteem myself equal to any one, let him be who 
he may." 

The Duke was glad to engage the services of so 
accomplished an artist, and Leonardo went to Milan 
in 1483. While there all his powers were called into 
action in the Duke's service. He used to play before 
him on a wonderful lute, fashioned by himself in the 
form of a horse's skull, and tuned according to laws 
of sound which he himself had discovered. The songs 
that he sung were of his own composition, and so was 
the music. He was like David playing before Saul, 
and the Duke was delighted with the beautiful musi- 
cian, who constantly grew in his favor. All the 
splendid courtly pageants to welcome royal visitors 
were planned by Leonardo ; a statue of Francesco 
Sforza was modeled by him for the city ; he became 
the founder and director of an academ} r named for 
him, the object of which was the bringing together of 
artists and men of letters ; and he superintended the 



LEONARDO DA VINCI. 37 

bringing of the waters of the Adda to Milan, a distance 
of two hundred miles. 

All these varied tasks were attractive to the many- 
sided nature of the artist, but they left him little time 
for painting. It was at Milan, however, that he painted 
his masterpiece, the Last Supper. This picture was 
ordered by the Duke of Milan, after the death of his 
wife, who during her last days spent so much time at 
prayer in the convent of Madonna della Grazia that 
she sometimes had to be forced to go away. During a 
period of religious enthusiasm, the Duke ordered the 
picture, and Leonardo spent about two years on it, be- 
ginning his work in 1496. 

Much has been written about this picture, a sketch 
by Goethe being by far the most interesting. Many 
stories are told to show that Leonardo would paint 
only when his mind was in good condition for work, 
and that he would not hurry under any conditions. It 
is said that the prior* of the convent, not comprehend- 
ing the amount of time and skill required for such a 
composition, grew impatient over Leonardo's delays. 
His importunities angered the artist, who said one day 
to the prior, " I have sought in vain for many days a 
model for Judas ; I can hasten my work very much if 
you will consent to sit for the portrait of the traitor." 
Naturally, Leonardo was left to paint in peace after this. 

The Last Supper of Leonardo da Vinci differs from 
every picture on this subject that had then been painted. 
From the days of Giotto, the great masters had painted 
the Last Supper as a symbol of the Christian sacrament, 
thus representing Christ as the head of the Church. 
Leonardo departed from this conception, choosing rather 



38 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

to present one moment — perhaps the most thrilling mo- 
ment in all Christ's intercourse with his disciples — when 
" they did eat, and He said, ' Verily I say unto you that 
one of you shall betray me.' " These words must have 



;_. 


fit 




1 . 


; 




Bfc :, 


v ^ v i . 



Leonardo i/o I" 



The Head of Christ. 



pierced the hearts of the disciples, so that their very 
souls seemed to be laid bare before them. Every doubt, 
every deed of unfaithfulness that they had been guilty 
of must have condemned them, and to the lips of each 



LEONARDO DA VINCI. 39 

one of the group the eager question must have come : 
" Lord, is it I ? Lord, is it I ? " 

Leonardo represented the disciples as everyday men 
of the world, and the power of the picture lies in the 
expression of intense feeling, and in the revelation of 
the character of each of the twelve. The loving John, 
the gentle Matthew, the grasping Judas, and the simple, 
incredulous Thomas are all there ; while in the midst 
sits their Master, with a presence so noble that there 
is no figure in the world of art that more nearly ex- 
presses what is divine in human form. The apostles 
are arranged in groups of three, every group being full 
of dramatic interest. They are robbed, for the first time 
in painting, of the aureoles about their heads, but they 
lose none of their impressiveness thereby. 

The picture faded a short time after it was finished, 
for it was painted on a damp wall from which mineral 
salts were constantly oozing, and the great figures in the 
picture are now mere ghosts of their former selves. The 
best idea of the head of Christ is obtained from a draw- 
ing by Leonardo in the Brera, at Milan. Notwithstand- 
ing the ravages of time and the hand of the restorer, 
the greatness of the work can even now be felt. The 
wall on which it was painted is twenty-eight feet 
long, and the figures are larger than life. There are 
copies of the picture in various chapels, churches, and 
galleries of Europe ; the best is in the Royal Academy 
in London. 

At Milan, Leonardo painted a number of portraits, 
among them those of two beautiful women of the 
court, Cecilia Gallerini and Lucrezia Crevelli. The 
latter portrait, called La Belle Ferronniere, hangs on a 



40 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

wall at the Louvre, where are collected a number of 
works by Leonardo and his followers. This singularly 
beautiful woman, with her finely molded lips, mysteri- 
ously questioning eyes, and jeweled brow, haunts one 
with the peculiar fascination of something weird and 
almost sinister. The other portraits have shared the 
fate of most of his productions, and are now lost. In 
fact, there are in existence not more than half a dozen 
pictures which can be assigned to Leonardo without a 
shadow of doubt. 

The Virgin of the Rocks belongs to the years Leo- 
nardo spent at Milan. The Virgin is represented in a 
grotto of dark, bluish-green rock. St. John and the 
Infant Christ are playing at her feet, while a beautiful 
angel looks on at the right. The colors have probably 
changed and darkened very much, but the picture is 
still beautiful. The childish forms are exquisite, and 
the faces of the Madonna and the angel possess a rare 
loveliness. 

In 1500 Milan fell into the hands of the French, and 
the Duke Avas imprisoned. A short time afterward 
Leonardo returned to Florence, where he was well re- 
ceived by Pietro Soderino, the head of the Florentine 
Republic, who secured for him employment and a pen- 
sion from the government. In 1502 he made a journey 
through Italy as the chief engineer of Cresar Borgia. 
The details of this remarkable journey are recorded in 
his own manuscripts. 

During the next year an important work engaged his 
attention. This was the painting of a cartoon, or 
design used in painting a picture, for the decoration of 
one wall in the Council Hall of the Palazzo Vecchio 



LEONARDO DA VINCI. 41 

at Florence. Leonardo was fifty-one years old, and 
Michelangelo, then twenty-nine years old, was com- 
missioned to make a cartoon for the opposite wall. 
Thus began the rivalry between the two greatest men 
of the day, who, though they recognized each other's 
genius, were too haughty and intolerant to become 
friends. 

When the designs were finished, they were placed in 
the Council Hall, and all Florence went to see them. 
The walls were never decorated, but the cartoons re- 
mained on exhibition for some time ; and they were 
studied by artists as the expression of the profoundest 
knowledge and highest skill that had been acquired in 
Florentine art. It is curious that both cartoons dis- 
appeared. The Flemish painter Rubens must have seen 
the central portion of Leonardo's design, which repre- 
sents two soldiers fighting for a standard, for he copied 
it, and the picture is known as the Battle for the 
Standard. 

It was at Florence that Leonardo painted Mona Lisa 
or La Jbcunda. In this picture, more completely than 
in any other, he expressed the spirit of his life and his 
artistic ideals. His constant search after truth and his 
tireless efforts to express it on his canvas ; his desire to 
paint beauty of a highly distinguished and intellectual 
type ; and his love of a fleeting smile, half revealing, 
half concealing feeling and thought, are all written in 
Mona Lisa's face. It seems as though she must have 
been a creature of his fancy ; but it is not so. Mona 
Lisa is the portrait of Madonna Lisa, the wife of 
Francesco del Giocondo. There she sits calm and self- 
contained, with the rivers and mountains behind her — 



42 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

the embodiment of a woman's spirit, possessing a fasci- 
nation none can escape. Her eyes follow one about the 
great gallery of the Louvre, into the remotest corner ; 
nor does her power end there, for her image comes back 
to haunt one's memory, again and again. She seems to 
divine all one's secrets, but she veils herself in an im- 
penetrable mystery. 

Every stroke of the brush in this portrait reveals 
Leonardo's skill in expressing, as no other artist of 
his time was able to do, the subtle modelings and the 
fleeting expressions of the human face. The colors 
have faded and changed, and King Francis I., who 
bought the portrait, gazed on more beauty than we see 
to-day. But time has laid his hand reverently on the 
work, and has preserved the most exquisite harmony. 
In the background are blues and greens in the rocks 
and water. The coloring of the hair is a rich auburn ; 
and the drapery is of mingling hues of gold, green, and 
blue, which almost elude us at first sight, but are re- 
vealed as we become accustomed to them as to objects 
in a darkened room. Over the face and neck is a rich, 
golden light, grown richer perhaps with age. 

While the portrait was in progress, Leonardo ar- 
ranged to have musicians and poets while away the 
time, in order that Mona Lisa might keep the same ex- 
pression. For four years he worked on the picture 
and then left it unfinished, still dissatisfied with his 
work. 

Leonardo painted a cartoon, called the Virgin in the 
Lap of St. Anne, with the Infant Christ and St. John, for 
an altarpiece for the Nunziata Convent. When the draw- 
ing was exhibited in the convent, throngs went to see 




Leonardo da Vinci 



44 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

it, and the streets were crowded as though a festival 
were going on. Thus Leonardo had a taste of Cima- 
bue's triumph on that " birthday festival of Italian 
painting " three centuries before. The picture was 
never painted, but the cartoon, or a copy of it. is in the 
Royal Academy in London. There is a picture in the 
Louvre on a similar subject, which was painted between 
1502 and 1507. It contains a charming figure of the 
Infant Christ, playing with a lamb and holding it by 
the ears. 

In 1514 Leonardo went to Rome at the invitation of 
Pope Leo X. This visit did not bring much satisfac- 
tion to him, for he was then an old man and his sun 
was near its setting. He had been honored in Florence 
above all others for many years ; but in Rome the 
enthusiasm over Michelangelo and Raphael was so 
great that Leonardo did not receive the homage due 
him. His visit was a short one, and he soon joined 
the court of the French king, then held at Pavia. 

Francis I. was trying to draw around him the most 
eminent men of the time, and Leonardo found a con- 
genial life at the French court and accompanied it to 
Paris in 1516. His Mono. Lisa and the Virgin of the 
Rocks had already been purchased by King Francis, 
who admired his work greatly. He offered the painter 
the Chateau of Cloux near the town of Amboise, where 
the French Court resided during the hunting season, 
and there Leonardo remained the rest of his life. Little 
is known of him during these last years, but a portrait 
drawn by himself — a red chalk sketch in the collection 
of the Louvre — shows that old age did not bring him 
peace and content, for " an indescribable touch of bitter- 



LEONARDO DA VINCI. 45 

ness lies in his mouth, and a gloomy severity in his eye, 
both of which are sufficient to tell us that this man lived 
at discord with his fate." It is probable that he spent 
his leisure in recording the many investigations and 
discoveries which have won for him the name of the 
" Wizard of the Renaissance." 

In his sixty-seventh year, Leonardo da Vinci died at 
the Chateau of Cloux. He left behind him many able 
pupils, the greatest of whom was Bernardino Luini, 
whose works prove him a worthy pupil of his great 
master, for they are distinguished for their beautiful 
color and the tender loveliness of the faces. 



IV. MICHELANGELO. 

1475-1504. 

At Caprese, a little town in Italy near Arezzo, the 
ruins of a castle are still standing on a rocky mountain 
ledge. One room in the castle is interesting to every 
lover of art, for it contains a tablet stating that Michel- 
angelo was born there in 1475. At the time of his 
birth his father, who was governor of Caprese, was 
making an official visit to the town. As soon as his 
duties were over he set out on the return journey to 
Florence with his wife and infant son. They traveled 
as far as Settignano, where the little Michelangelo 
was left with a nurse, while his parents went on to 
Florence. 

Michelangelo's nurse, or foster mother, was the 
daughter of a stone mason, and her husband followed 
the same calling. The child played among the huge 
blocks of stone in the quarries, and thus became familiar 
from infancy with the first stages of the sculptor's art. 
Perhaps some faint memories of his childish impressions 
came back to him years later, when he spent many 
months at Carrara choosing marble for statues. Even 
during his childish days at Settignano, he began to show 
a love for drawing, and for many years his first designs 
remained on the walls of the stone mason's cottage. 

After a few years, the boy was taken to Florence and 
sent to school. There he had as a comrade, Francesco 
46 



MICHELANGELO. 47 

Granacci, who became his lifelong friend. Granacci 
was studying with Domenico Ghirlandajo, one of the 
artists who had been honored by a commission to paint 
frescoes in the Sistine Chapel at Rome. During school 
hours Michelangelo's heart was not in his studies, for 
he kept wishing the time to pass, so that he might see 
the new drawings which Granacci brought him every 
day. He worked over these in his spare moments, 
each day wishing more and more to study art with his 
friend. Together they spent many hours watching the 
artists at work in the studios, and his heart would be 
filled with such longing that he pleaded with his father 
to let him enter Ghirlandajo's studio. But Ludovico 
Buonarroti would not listen to his son, for he had other 
plans and was much opposed to having him enter upon 
a profession so poorly paid and so uncertain of success. 

At length Ghirlandajo himself became interested in 
Michelangelo, and he persuaded Ludovico to apprentice 
the boy to him for three years, agreeing to pay a cer- 
tain sum for his services, which was an unusual thing at 
the time. Ghirlandajo was then employed in restoring 
the choir of Santa Maria Novella, and the young appren- 
tice was launched immediately into important work. 
He proved an apt and ready assistant, and found time 
to make many drawings. One of these, representing 
Ghirlandajo and his pupils at work on a scaffolding, 
called forth from the astonished master these words of 
admiration, — " He understands more of art than I do 
myself ! " 

Ghirlandajo was obliged once again to make a similar 
confession, to himself at least, under very trying cir- 
cumstances. It happened in this way. One day while a 



48 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

comrade was copying a drawing by Ghirlandajo, Michel- 
angelo watched him for a moment, and then seizing 
a pencil corrected the master's drawing with one skill- 
ful stroke, much to the discomfiture of Ghirlandajo, who 
stood by. From that time Michelangelo was not 
allowed to use the drawings lent to the other pupils. 

The first picture that Michelangelo painted was an 
enlarged copy of Martin Schongauer's Temptation of St. 
Anthony. He worked on it very faithfully, visited 
the markets to study the scales of fish, and in every 
way lie tried to paint the details of the picture with 
utmost truthfulness. When the work was finished, it 
attracted a good deal of attention, and Ghirlandajo was 
proud to claim it as a product of his studio. 

After Michelangelo had studied with Ghirlandajo 
about a year, it happened that Lorenzo de' Medici, who 
had just established a school in his palace gardens for 
the benefit of the young artists of Florence, asked Ghir- 
landajo to recommend two of his pupils most worthy to 
enjoy the privilege of studying there. Francesco Gra- 
nacci and Michelangelo were chosen by their master. 
The statues and casts in the Medici gardens and the 
noble examples of Greek art that adorned Lorenzo's 
palace awakened Michelangelo's enthusiasm, and he 
made as rapid progress in modeling as in painting. 

It was not long before he was at work carving from 
a block of marble that some one had given to him the 
masque, or face, of a faun. Lorenzo de' Medici was 
much interested in his work and watched its progress. 
When it was finished, he said to the young sculptor, 
" Why, since you have represented the faun as an old 
man, have you made his teeth so perfect ? " The next 






MICHELANGELO. 49 

clay when the Duke walked in his gardens, he was 
interested to find that Michelangelo had benefited by 
his suggestion, and by a masterly blow with his chisel 
had broken a tooth in the faun's mouth in such a way 
as to give the effect of age. 

Lorenzo de' Medici, after showing Michelangelo many 
signs of his favor, invited him to become a member of 
his household. He also offered the young sculptor's 
father a position at the court ; but when Ludovico 
Buonarroti heard of the Duke's proposal, he was very 
angry and refused to have an interview with him. He 
had consented unwillingly to let his son study painting, 
and now that he wished to become a stone mason, he 
was determined to prevent it. Granacci, however, 
finally prevailed upon him to see the Duke, and he 
was so pleased by Lorenzo's courtesy that he declared 
himself ready to do anything for such a master. 
Thus Michelangelo, at a most impressionable age, was 
thrown into surroundings admirably suited to his devel- 
opment as an artist. He sat at Lorenzo's table, often at 
the Duke's side, wearing a violet-colored mantle, and 
enjoying the conversation of the brilliant men who 
gathered there. The young artist heard their learned 
discussions on art, literature, and philosophy ; and his 
pictures and his sonnets show the influence of this classic 
learning and culture. Nevertheless, the poetry of Dante 
and the sermons of the great Florentine preacher, 
Savonarola, stirred his soul far more than the elegant 
discourses at Lorenzo's table. 

Michelangelo did not give up his study of painting, 
although he enjoyed sculpture more. He spent many 
months copying some great frescoes in the Brancacci 



50 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

Chapel. It was while he was at work there that a 
fellow-pupil at the Medici gardens, who was jealous of 
Lorenzo's admiration for his comrade, became enraged 
at some haughty criticism made by Michelangelo, and 
struck him a blow upon the nose that disfigured him 
for life. 

The golden days in Lorenzo's palace came to an end 
in 1492, owing to the death of the Duke. His suc- 
cessor, Piero de' Medici, cared little for art. Michel- 
angelo left the palace, and began to work in a studio 
in his father's house, where he remained for two years. 

In the winter of 1494 a heavy snowstorm in Florence 
was the occasion of the artist's returning to the Medici 
palace. Piero de' Medici, who had not thought before 
of employing Michelangelo, sent for him to fashion a 
statue of snow, in order to satisfy a whim and entertain 
his guests. As a reward for this work, the sculptor 
was given his old rooms and a seat at the Duke's table ; 
but he did not find congenial spirits there. 

Piero de' Medici's reign was short, for Florence was 
soon involved in civil war. The Medici were driven 
out, and Michelangelo was obliged to flee. He went to 
Venice and then to Bologna, where he stayed some time, 
owing to a curious circumstance. It was a law of the 
city that every stranger entering the town should pro- 
vide himself witli a little seal of red wax, to be carried 
on the thumb of the right hand. Michelangelo had 
neglected to do this, and not having the money to pay 
the fine imposed upon him, he would have been thrown 
into prison had he not excited the interest of one of 
the magistrates, who invited him to his home, and kept 
him there for two years. He received commissions for 




51 



52 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

work at Bologna, but the local sculptors were jealous 
and persecuted him until he went back to Florence. 

Between 1500 and 1508 Michelangelo painted a Holy 
Family for his friend Agnolo Doni. The picture has 
been injured by attempts to restore it, but in the mas- 
terly composition, and the admirably drawn nude figures 
in the background, it is a prophecy of his later work in 
the Sistine Chapel. 

Sculpture occupied most of Michelangelo's energies 
for a number of years, but in 1501 he engaged in a 
competition with Leonardo da Vinci for the decoration 
of the Council Hall of the Palazzo Vecchio. Leonardo 
was then over fifty years old and was the acknowledged 
master in all Italy. To challenge him was a daring and 
exciting thing for a man under thirty to do, but Michel- 
angelo was eager to try his powers on some great work. 
The cartoon which he designed presented an episode in 
the war with Pisa, and showed a band of soldiers, while 
bathing in the Arno River, suddenly warned by a trum- 
pet call of the approach of the enemy. The various 
groups, dashing out of the water, clambering up the 
steep banks, dressing and fastening on their armor, 
were represented with remarkable knowledge of the 
human figure ; and the great Leonardo found in the 
young Florentine a powerful rival. 

Michelangelo was provided with a hall in which to 
paint his cartoon, but he suffered trying interruptions. 
In 1505 he was called to Rome by Pope Julius II., who 
commissioned him to build his mausoleum. This was 
never finished, though Michelangelo began the work 
then, and for forty years was so harassed by it that he 
said, " My youth has been lost, bound hand and foot to 



MICHELANGELO. 53 

this tomb." A year later lie escaped from Rome for a 
time and finished the cartoon. It suffered the same 
fate as Leonardo's, and we are indebted to San Gallo's 
copy and to engravings for our knowledge of it. 

Notwithstanding his success with the cartoon of Pisa, 
Michelangelo did not claim to be a painter by profes- 
sion. When Pope Julius II. ordered him to lay down 
his chisel and go to Rome to paint the ceiling of the 
Sistine Chapel, he was unwilling to undertake the task. 
He advised the Pope to engage Raphael instead ; but no 
excuses were accepted, and he was obliged to execute 
the commission. 

The Sistine Chapel is a part of the Vatican, and 
was built in 1473, by Pope Sixtus IV., for whom it was 
named. The great fresco painters of Florence had 
decorated the walls with scenes from the lives of Moses 
and Christ ; but the ceiling remained unadorned, until 
Pope Julius II. commanded Michelangelo to take up 
the work. He began to make his designs in 1508. 
The original contract called for frescoes representing 
the twelve prophets in the lunettes (the semicircular 
spaces over the windows), and ornamental designs in 
the other spaces of the vaulted ceiling ; but the artist 
persuaded the Pope that this scheme of decoration was 
inadequate to the needs of the building, and proposed 
another, which was carried out. 

The space to be covered with decorations included six 
lunettes on each of the long walls of the rectangular 
building, the pointed arches above the lunettes, the 
spaces between these arches, and finally the vaulted 
ceiling above. In the lunettes and pointed arches 
Michelangelo painted family groups, representing the 



54 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

ancestors of Christ, from Abraham to Joseph ; and in 
the spaces between the arches were painted Jewish 
prophets and pagan sibyls, attended by angels, sitting 
on thrones and looking forward to the coming of the 
Redeemer. The ceiling space was subdivided by mold- 
ings and cornices, painted in such a way as to represent 
an architectural framework, adorned with a wealth of 
ornament. 

Through the middle of the ceiling the artist repre- 
sented a long, narrow space, divided by arches and 
bounded by what seemed to be a marble cornice, from 
which arches appeared to spring. This cornice was 
supported by boy angels in groups of two, and above 
them were seated figures of fauns, separated by medal- 
lions. The long, narrow space was divided into nine 
compartments, in which were painted scenes from Old 
Testament history. Beginning with the fresco nearest 
the altar, the subjects are as follows : the Separation 
of Light from Darkness, the Creation of the Sun and 
3Ioon, the Separation of the Land and Sea, the Creation 
of Adam, the Creation of Eve, the Fall and the Banish- 
ment from Paradise, the Sacrifice of Noah, the Deluge, 
and the Drunkenness of Noah. These principal parts 
of the composition deal with the creation and the sins 
of man, and the rest points to the redemption of the 
race by the coming of Christ. Besides all the spaces 
mentioned, there were four corner arches, and in these 
were symbolic groups, — the Brazen Serpent, the Death 
of Haman, Judith and Holofernes, and David and 
Groliath. 

After his designs had been made, Michelangelo was 
not able to begin his work immediately. The scaffold- 



MICHELANGELO. 55 

ing which had been constructed for his use was unsuit- 
able, and he was obliged to plan a new one, which was 
so skillfully arranged that it has served as a model for 
such structures ever since. Day after day he worked 
on a platform fifty feet above the pavement, with his 
head thrown back in such a strained position that long 
after he had finished the work he could not read unless 
he held his book over his head. " Backward I strain 
me like a Syrian bow," he wrote in a sonnet to a friend 
at this time. 

Not many days after he began the decorations he 
went to the Pope in despair, saying, " I told your Holi- 
ness that I am no fresco painter, and it is true, for all 
my work is ruined." His discouragement was caused 
by a mold which incrusted his work ; but it proved 
to be nothing serious, and disappeared when the plaster 
was dry. He went on with the frescoes, often receiv- 
ing visits from the Pope, who was so interested in the 
progress of the work that he had a ladder built, by 
which he might ascend to the scaffolding. 

Notwithstanding the marvelous rapidity with which 
the artist worked, the Pope was never satisfied, for he 
was afraid he would not live to see the frescoes finished. 
One day he said to the artist impatiently, " When will 
you come to an end ? " Michelangelo replied, " When 
I can." This angered the Pope, who exclaimed, " You 
seem to desire that I should have you thrown from this 
scaffold." The scaffolding was removed soon after- 
ward, and on All Saints' Day, 1509, the first half of the 
frescoes was shown to the Pope and an admiring crowd 
of spectators. Raphael was there, and from that time 
he was no longer content with his own work, for the 



56 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

vision of majesty and grandeur revealed to him on the 
Sistine ceiling gave him new inspiration, and his future 
work was the greater for it. 

After the frescoes had been shown to the public, 
Michelangelo found it necessary to go to Florence. 
When he asked leave of absence, the Pope was so 
angry at the thought of any delay that, in the course 
of the interview, he struck the artist with his stick. 
This was an indignity that the proud man could not 
brook, so he started immediately for Florence. The 
Pope sent his favorite page after him with money, and 
Michelangelo soon went back to Rome. He finished his 
work in the Sistine Chapel in 1512. 

Although on the Sistine ceiling there are over three 
hundred figures, varying in size from the little boy 
angels that support the cornices to the colossal proph- 
ets and sibyls that would be eighteen feet high if stand- 
ing, there is the most perfect harmony and unity in the 
vast composition. These heroic figures are hardly 
equaled in the world of art for majesty and grandeur. 
Among them all none is more sublime than that of 
Adam lying on a rugged mountain side, awaiting the 
touch of the Creator to send the lifeblood thrilling 
through his veins, awakening him to life and light. 
The Creator in the same fresco is conceived with equal 
poetic power ; and it seems as though the artist's im- 
agination had scaled the very heights of heaven, so glo- 
rious and so godlike is this representation of the Source 
of all being. 

In the spaces between the pointed arches, on the 
right of the altar, are the Libyan, Cumean, and Del- 
phic sibyls ; between them are the prophets, Daniel and 




Michelany, 



58 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

Isaiah. On the left are Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Joel, 
with the Persian and Erythrean sibyls between them. 
Over the altar end is Jonah, and at the opposite end is 
Zacharias, who is not deep in meditation like Joel, nor 
transported with hope like Ezekiel and Isaiah, but 
wholly absorbed in reading the prophecies of the Mes- 
siah. The figure of Jeremiah is the noblest and most 
imposing in the long line of prophets. He sits wrapped 
in profound thought, and seems to bear witness to all 
the intense longing and rapturous expectation of the 
Hebrew race. The overwhelming majesty of the colos- 
sal prophets is relieved by the figure of the lovely 
Delphic sibyl, who looks forth as though from some 
troubled dream, and that of the Libyan sibyl with her 
glorious head and beautiful drapery. But the old and 
haggard forms of the Cumean and Persian sibyls are as 
terrible as the prophets. 

In the family groups below, the lofty strain becomes 
more tender ; and a lighter chord still is struck in the 
angels and decorative figures that add an element of 
grace and charm to the minor parts of the composition. 

The Sistine frescoes have been much injured by age, 
b} T cleansing under laborers' hands, and by the explo- 
sion of a powder magazine at the Castle of St. Angelo 
in 1798. The plastering has cracked in many places, 
and in some parts it has fallen down ; and the color lias 
also been impaired. But the work even in its ruins com- 
mands reverence as the masterpiece of one of the might- 
iest intellects that the world has ever known. In it 
Michelangelo revealed his qualities as an artist at 
their highest and noblest. He was able to conceive 
vast and magnificent designs, and he had the profound 



MICHELANGELO. 59 

knowledge and poetic imagination that enabled him to 
execute them in a marvelous way. It was he who 
taught the artists of the Renaissance what the grand 
and sublime in art meant, and thus he raised art to a 
higher plane. The frescoes of Raphael, and all the 
most impressive works of the age, show that he opened 
the eyes of his contemporaries to a larger vision. 

Twenty years after the Sistine ceiling frescoes were 
finished, Michelangelo was at work again in the same 
place. The intervening years had been stormy ones, 
for he had been beset by obstacles of the most annoying 
sort in carrying out his work. He had suffered many 
anxieties on account of his family ; he had sorrowed 
bitterly over the misfortunes of Florence ; and he had 
been exiled after trying to aid his city in an unavail- 
ing attempt to throw off her yoke. 

When Michelangelo was commanded by Pope Clement 
VII. to paint the Last Judgment, he was nearly sixty 
years old. His life had been full of sorrow, and his 
mind had been fed on the writings of Plato and Dante, 
and on the prophecies of Savonarola. The Last Judg- 
ment reflects his profound meditations on life and death. 
He treated the subject in an original way, and rendered 
it terrible in its dramatic power. In the middle of the 
upper part of the fresco is the figure of Christ, half 
standing on the clouds about His throne, while He 
points to the wounds in His side, and raises His hand 
in judgment on the world. On His right is the Virgin, 
gazing at the redeemed souls, and at either side are 
apostles and saints. St. Peter stands on Christ's left, 
holding the key of the Church, and below Him are 
martyrs with the instruments of their martyrdom. 




Michelangelo. 



Christ in the "Last Judgment. 
60 



MICHELANGELO. 61 

Below the central group is a group of archangels, 
four sounding forth the judgment to the four corners 
of the universe, and the others holding the books of 
judgment. At the left side of the picture, the land 
and the sea are represented as giving up their dead, 
and the blessed rise toward heaven, aided by angels. 
On the opposite side, the old boatman, Charon, rows 
lost souls across to hell in his winged boat, and then 
beats them down into the bottomless pit. In the semi- 
circular spaces at the top of the picture are groups of 
angels bearing the symbols of Christ's passion, — the 
cross, the crown of thorns, and the pillar of flagellation. 
Originally there was another group above, representing 
the Eternal Father. 

Michelangelo painted the figures in the fresco of 
the Last Judgment with great rapidity, but he was 
obliged to take such long periods of rest that he was 
engaged six years on the work. Many anecdotes are 
told in connection with the painting of this picture. 
One tells how Biagio, the Pope's master of ceremonies, 
accompanied his Holiness to the chapel, and on being 
asked his opinion of the fresco, said very disparaging 
things of it. Thereupon the artist painted him with 
asses' ears, as the master of ceremonies in hell. Biagio 
appealed to the Pope to prevent this insult, but the 
Pope replied, " That I cannot do : if he had placed you 
in purgatory, I should have made every effort in your 
behalf ; but as he has placed you in hell, it is useless 
for me to do anything, for ex infernis nulla est redemptio 
(there is no redemption in hell)." Succeeding popes 
objected to the undraped figures in the fresco, and 
Daniele Volterra was employed to paint draperies upon 



62 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

them, for which he ever after bore the nickname of the 
" breeches-maker. " 

Though the years preceding the painting of the Last 
Judgment were full of trouble and disappointment, 
those in which he executed it were peaceful and happy 
for Michelangelo. Then he enjoyed the friendship of 
Vittoria Colonna, the widow of the Marquis of Pescara, 
who was killed in the battle of Pa via many years 
before. Michelangelo's life had been a solitary one, 
with "no wife but his art" ; and his nature was so sen- 
sitive, proud, and unapproachable that he had few 
friends. Yet he was capable of great loyalty and af- 
fection, and in Vittoria Colonna he found a sympa- 
thetic spirit to whom he could reveal himself and be 
understood. She was a poet and a woman of influ- 
ence in her day. She belonged to the devoted group 
of men and women in Italy, who, seeing the corruptions 
in the Church and in society, worked zealously to bring 
about reforms. Though they still remained loyal to 
the Roman Church, they helped to sow the seeds of the 
Reformation. Vittoria herself was suspected of heresy, 
and was obliged to leave Rome in 1541. 

This friendship sweetened the life of Michelangelo, 
whose heart had been wounded by jealousy and discords 
for so long. He wrote many sonnets to Vittoria Co- 
lonna. These and his letters to her show the gracious 
influence of her spirit. After her departure from 
Rome, they met again in the next year, and five years 
afterward she died. 

Michelangelo was not able to nurse in idleness his 
sorrow at the loss of his friend, for important work 
pressed hard upon him. Pope Paul III. commissioned 



MICHELANGELO. 63 

him to decorate a new chapel in the Vatican, named 
the Pauline Chapel. The frescoes represent the Con- 
version of St. Paul and the Crucifixion of St. Peter; but 
they are now in such a mutilated condition that it is 
impossible to judge of them. 

The Pauline frescoes were Michelangelo's last works 
in painting. He lived fifteen years longer, and after 
all his great contemporaries had ended their labors, 
herculean tasks awaited him. His health was poor, 
and he suffered a good deal. At night, when sleep for- 
sook him, he would put on a cap with a candle attached 
to the front of it, and chip away at a marble Christ 
upon which he had been working for many years. 

On the evening of the eighteenth of February, 1564, 
Michelangelo spoke his last words, saying, — "I give 
my soul to God, my body to the earth, and my worldly 
possessions to my nearest of kin, charging them to 
remember the sufferings of Jesus Christ." 

The Pope and the Romans determined that his body 
should remain in Rome, and they hastened to bury it 
in the Church of the Holy Apostles ; but his nephew 
secretly removed it, and sent it to Florence. It was 
then conducted by the Florentine artists to Santa Croce, 
in a torchlight procession, followed by throngs of cit- 
izens. Some days after, memorial services were held 
in the Church of San Lorenzo, upon the facade of which 
Michelangelo had worked for many years ; and later a 
monument was erected to his memory in the Church of 
Santa Croce. 



V. RAPHAEL. 

1483-1520. 

To understand Michelangelo's many-sided nature, it 
is necessary to follow his career as sculptor, painter, 
architect, poet, and citizen of Florence. Leonardo's 
genius led him, also, into varied paths. But Raphael's 
best energies were devoted to painting, and in all that 
pertains to the art of painting and decoration, he was 
the most complete master the world has ever known. 
His life was uneventful, and the story of it is a record 
of his harmonious development as a painter, from the 
days when, as a little boy, he began his studies at his 
father's side, to the last touch on the Transfiguration, 
just before his death. 

Raphaello Sanzio, known as Raphael, was born at 
Urbino, in Umbria, on Good Friday, 1483. His father, 
Giovanni Santi, was both an artist and a writer, and his 
frescoes adorn many of the churches of Urbino and of 
the surrounding country. His little son accompanied 
him to his labors, and the gentle, teachable boy early 
learned the rudiments of art ; so that when the father 
was painting in a church at Cagli, the boy aided him in 
his work. Giovanni Santi soon discovered that his son 
had natural ability, and he wished to place him under 
Pietro Perugino, who at that time enjoyed unusual 
popularity as a painter. But he died without having 
carried out his plans, when Raphael was eleven years 
64 



RAPHAEL. 65 

old. Happily an uncle, knowing Giovanni's wishes, 
apprenticed the boy to Perugino. For four years 
Raphael studied with Perugino, and to him he owed a 
most thorough training in drawing and color. 

All Raphael's early pictures show that he was a humble 
follower of his master, though his individuality asserted 
itself even in these first works. Among them is a 
Crucifixion, one of the very few pictures painted by 
Raphael on painful subjects, for he usually shunned 
such themes, choosing rather to paint the glad aspects 
of life. Another picture that shows his master's influ- 
ence is the Marriage of the Virgin. Raphael had 
assisted Perugino while he painted a picture on the 
same subject, and the two works are similar in com- 
position. They illustrate the legend which tells how 
Zacharias inquired of the Lord concerning Mary. Then 
an angel came to him and said, " Go forth and call 
together all the widowers among the people, and let 
each bring a wand with him, and he to whom the Lord 
shall show a sign let him be the husband of Mary." 
The legend goes on to say that the suitors deposited 
their wands in the temple over night, and that in the 
morning Joseph's wand had blossomed. The other 
suitors in their disappointment broke their wands and 
trampled on them. 

In the early part of 1504 Raphael returned to Urbino, 
where he painted a number of pictures, among which 
are St. Q-eorge and St. Michael. A few months later he 
went to Florence, and the results of this visit were mani- 
fold. Instead of saints and angels lost in contemplation 
of heavenly mysteries, such as filled the pictures of the 
Umbrian painters, he found, in the works of Florentine 



66 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

artists, the fullness of life and feeling ; and he studied 
them earnestly in order to understand the secret of their 
power. The art world was at the time much excited 
over the cartoons of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelan- 
gelo, and Raphael learned many lessons from them. 
His generous, open mind saw the beautiful and the 
strong wherever it was found, and each new revelation 
helped him to express his own thoughts and feelings. 

His paintings of this period show the influence of the 
Florentine masters. Among them are the Madonna of 
the Goldfinch, La Belle Jardiniere, the Madonna Baldac- 
chino, and the Madonna of the Grand Duke. It is impos- 
sible to describe in fitting words the many Madonnas of 
Raphael. They are so exquisite, and their charm is 
so readily felt that they need only to be seen in order 
to be admired and enjoyed. Each one seems lovelier 
than the last, and they all present an exalted type of 
motherhood, varying from the sweet and tender Madonna 
of the Grand Duke and the Madonna of the Chair to the 
sublimely majestic Sistine Madonna. 

At Florence, as at Urbino, Raphael found inspira- 
tion in his fellow-artists, and he also gained much from 
his brilliant friends whose learned discussions were of 
inestimable value to him. For, in order to execute his 
later works, he needed not only the skill and poetic 
imagination of an artist, but a knowledge of history and 
philosophy, and an intellectual grasp only possible to a 
mind broadly developed. 

While Raphael was at work on the Madonna Baldac- 
chino, Pope Julius II. invited him to Rome to undertake 
the decoration of various parts of the Vatican. These 
works made it necessary for him to remain in Rome 




Baphael. 



The Madonna of the Chair. 



07 



68 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

during the rest of his life. Between 1508 and 1517 
four rooms in the Vatican were decorated under his 
supervision. For all of these works he made the 
designs, but some of them were carried out by his 
pupils. In Rome, Raphael gathered about him a large 
band of assistants, who aided him in his colossal under- 
takings. Not only was he remarkable for his power to 
learn and to assimilate, but he had a marvelous faculty 
of imbuing others with his spirit. Thus he was able 
to accomplish much in a short life. It is said that as 
he went about the streets, he was surrounded by his 
disciples, who hung on his words, and jostled one 
another in their eagerness to lose nothing that came 
from his lips. Thus it was that they were able to fol- 
low so closely in his footsteps that they could execute 
his designs. 

The decoration of the first room, called the Chamber 
of the Faculties, was begun in 1508, and finished in 
1511. On the ceiling Raphael painted four circular 
frescoes, each containing a female figure accompanied 
by symbols, clouds, and beautiful genii. These figures 
typify Theology, Poetry, Philosophy, and Law, and refer 
to the subjects treated in the wall spaces below them. 

The wall fresco, Theology, represents an argument on 
the nature of the sacrament, entered into by the fathers 
of the Church. It is witnessed, in heaven, by the Holy 
Trinity and the communion of saints, represented by 
saints, martyrs, and prophets seated on a semicircle of 
clouds ; and on the earth, by hosts of people. This 
was the first great fresco painted by Raphael, and he 
proved by it that he was a master in the art. It was 
while at work on this fresco that Raphael saw Michel- 



RAPHAEL. 69 

angelo's Sistine frescoes. He then felt the influence 
of the spirit of grandeur and sublimity there revealed, 
as all his later works bear witness. 

The second fresco, Philosophy, is known as the School 
of Athens. Beneath a grand portico all the Greek sages 
are represented, discussing w T ith their followers the 
problems of the universe. Raphael made Plato the 
most impressive figure among them all. He stands 
pointing to heaven, while at his side Aristotle is point- 
ing to the earth. Socrates stands at the left talking to 
his interested disciples ; and Diogenes, the Cynic, sits 
on the steps alone, indifferent to all around him. All 
phases of Greek philosophy are represented by their 
founders. In the foreground are men noted in the arts 
and sciences ; and at the extreme right, Raphael has 
painted a portrait of himself as a humble follower of 
Perugino. 

These two frescoes revealed Raphael's genius in a new 
light. They showed that he was eminently fitted to 
deal with important historical subjects, and that he had 
the power of thought and poetic imagination necessary 
for the creation of a grand composition. They also 
showed his skill in portraiture, and an intellectual 
power that enabled him to paint pictures on great 
themes, with such a lofty idea of their meaning that he 
won the name of the "philosophical painter." 

In the third fresco, Poetry, or Apollo and the Muses on 
Parnassus, the most interesting figure is that of blind 
old Homer ; near him are Dante and Virgil, and many 
of the celebrated poets of ancient and mediaeval times. 
Apollo is seated near the center, with the Muses at the 
right ; and in the lower part of the picture are several 



70 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

poets of Raphael's day. The painting makes Parnassus 
seem no longer a vague vision. Once more the font 
of inspiration gushes forth at the feet of the God of 
Song, and the great singers of the past seem to fill the 
earth with their melodies. 

The last fresco, Jurisprudence, consists of three parts, 
owing to the nature of the wall space. The first part 
contains three figures, — Prudence, Truth, and Forti- 
tude. In the second is represented a scene in the his- 
tory of religious law, the giving of the law by Pope 
Gregory IX., though the portrait of the reigning Pope 
was substituted for the real actor in the event. The 
third represents the Emperor Justinian giving the code 
of civil law. 

The second room in the Vatican, decorated by 
Raphael, is called the Chamber of Heliodorus. It con- 
tains four large wall frescoes, besides decorations on 
the smaller spaces. The first fresco represents the 
expulsion of Heliodorus from the temple at Jerusalem. 
According to the account in the second book of the 
Maccabees, Heliodorus, who had just stolen the money 
reserved for the use of widows and orphans, was 
driven from the temple by a heavenly warrior mounted 
on a charger, who trampled the recreant beneath his 
feet. 

The second fresco, the Mass of Bolsena, represents the 
conversion of a skeptical priest who was celebrating 
mass in the presence of Pope Urban IV. The third 
represents St. Peter Delivered from Prison, and the 
fourth pictures the legend that tells how Pope Leo I., 
accompanied by St. Peter and St. Paul, entered the 
camp of Attila, the terrible king of the Huns who had 



RAPHAEL. 71 

devastated Europe, and so overawed him that Rome 
was saved from destruction. 

The Chamber of the Fire in the Borgo, and the 
Chamber of Constantine were painted by Raphael's 
pupils after his designs. The fresco dealing with the 
fire in the Borgo is full of dramatic power, and the 
drawings for the various groups have been studied, 
copied, and adapted by artists again and again. 
Especially noble and striking are the young man who 
is bearing his aged father away from the flames, and 
the central group in the foreground, where a mother 
teaches a little child to offer a petition for deliverance, 
believing its prayer will be more potent than her own. 
The Battle of Constantine is the most important fresco 
in the last room. It was painted by Guilio Romano, 
one of Raphael's pupils. 

Besides these four rooms in the Vatican, Raphael 
made designs for the decoration of the open corridors, 
called the Loggie. The subjects of these three fres- 
coes were taken from the Bible. They were executed 
by his pupils, and are known as " Raphael's Bible." 

A work was soon given to Raphael from which he 
won a good deal of fame. This consisted of a series of 
cartoons, or working designs, to be used in making tap- 
estries which were to hang on the walls of the Sistine 
Chapel, beneath the great frescoes representing scenes 
from the life of Moses and of Christ. Raphael took 
up the story of Christianity where Michelangelo left 
it. His cartoons represent the Coronation of the Virgin, 
which was hung over the altar, and also scenes from 
the lives of the first great Christians, — St. Peter, St. 
Paul, and St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr. 



72 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

They were executed in part by Raphael, and in part by 
his pupils from his designs. 

Four of the cartoons have been lost, but the others, 
after many vicissitudes, were placed in the South 
Kensington Museum. After they left Raphael's hands, 
they were first sent to Flanders to be wrought into 
tapestries. The tapestry makers cut the drawings 
into long strips to make their work easier, and there 
they remained neglected for many years. At length 
Rubens, the Flemish painter, discovered them and in- 
duced King Charles I. of England to buy them. In 
the time of Cromwell they passed out of the royal 
possessions, but they were afterward restored. King 
William III. had the parts united, and a room was built 
at Whitehall Palace to receive them. They were loaned 
some years ago to the South Kensington Museum, where 
they now remain. The tapestries also suffered many 
changes of fortune. In the course of time some have 
been lost, but in 1814 the remaining ones were restored 
to the Vatican. 

During the years in which Raphael was employed in 
decorating the Vatican and in designing the cartoons for 
the Sistine Chapel, he executed many easel pictures. 
Among them were portraits, Madonnas, Holy Families, 
and pictures on various sacred subjects, besides the 
celebrated fresco of G-alatea. 

A story is told which proves that Michelangelo 
appreciated the genius of the man who thanked Heaven 
that he was born in the same century with the creator 
of the Sistine frescoes. Raphael had been decorating 
the Church of Santa Maria della Pace, and when he 
had finished his frescoes, he informed his patron's 




Raphael. 



Portrait of Himself. 



73 



74 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

cashier what amount was clue him. The cashier 
thought the artist had already received enough pay, 
and he gave no attention to the demand. Raphael then 
proposed that the work should be estimated by some 
good judge to see if he had asked an exorbitant price. 

The cashier, knowing that Michelangelo was gener- 
ally supposed to be jealous of Raphael, chose the great 
sculptor to judge of the work. But when Michelangelo 
stood before the pictures, he was filled with enthusiasm 
and admiration. " Well," said the cashier, " what is 
your judgment upon the frescoes?" "That head 
alone," said Michelangelo, " is worth a hundred scudi, 
and the others are not worth less." When this was 
reported to Agostino Chigi, the man who had given the 
commission, he said, " Pay the artist immediately three 
hundred scudi and be very courteous to him, so that he 
will be satisfied ; for if he should insist on my paying 
also for the drapery, I shall be ruined." 

Many remarkable portraits in the art galleries of 
Europe prove Raphael's skill in portraiture. Among 
them are the superb portrait of Julius II., that ener- 
getic prelate by whose order some of the greatest art 
works of the later Renaissance were executed; the fine 
portrait of Pope Leo X., with two of his cardinals ; the 
portrait of the lovely Jeanne of Aragon ; and the charm- 
ing Violin Player. But the most interesting of all his 
portraits is that of himself in the Ufnzi Gallery. It 
shows us the poetic beauty of the sensitive, earnest 
face of the young artist, who by his generosity and 
modesty, and by the sweetness of his nature won the 
love and admiration of all who came under the spell of 
his presence. 



EAPHAEL. 75 

The greatest of Raphael's Madonnas, if not the great- 
est of all his works, is the Sistine Madonna. This pic- 
ture was painted for the Benedictine monks of Placentia, 
who wished to have a banner to carry in processions, 
containing a picture of the Madonna with St. Sixtus — 
Pope Sixtus — and Santa Barbara. It is now in the 
Dresden Gallery, where it was placed in the latter part 
of the eighteenth century. The Elector's throne was 
moved in order that the picture might have the best- 
lighted space in the gallery. Throngs of people of all 
ranks and creeds constantly pass before this Madonna, 
and no one stands unmoved in her presence. The most 
accomplished artist sees in the painting those qualities 
which it is the aim of his life to possess ; and each 
beholder finds pleasure and inspiration, according to 
his ability to understand its beauty. Even the simplest 
people feel its power ; it is said that old peasant women 
are often moved to tears before it, and go away with 
new hope in their hearts. 

The Sistine Madonna won for Raphael the name 
"divine." It seems, like Michelangelo's Adam, a 
vision of the artist's brain wrought without effort, and 
with the perfect knowledge and the joyful sense of 
power that we associate with the act of creation. In 
the Madonna's face and form are represented the purity 
and the majesty that belong to the Mother of Christ ; 
and in her Raphael has revealed the highest and holiest 
type of womanhood. In the deep and earnest eyes of 
the Son are written a prophecy of His agony and sacri- 
fice. Santa Barbara is a figure of grace and loveliness, 
and the sweet humility of her downcast face is in fine 
contrast with the fearlessness of the Mother. St. Sixtus 



76 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

is a strong, vigorous figure, with a noble face full of 
sincere devotion. The background, filled with exquisite 
angel faces, and the two cherubs leaning over the bal- 
ustrade below, give a graceful and poetic touch to this 
most perfect of compositions. 

Another easel picture of this period is the St. Oicilia. 
St. Paul in this picture is one of the most impressive 
figures in art ; and St. Cecilia herself, with rapt face 
listening to the angelic choir, whose exquisite strains 
have made her cease her own music, is beautiful as only 
Raphael could have conceived her. 

The Vision of Ezekiel is one of those sublimely im- 
aginative works inspired by Michelangelo's frescoes. 
Raphael lias represented Ezekiel's vision as described 
in the first chapter of the Book of Ezekiel. " And I 
looked, and behold a whirlwind came out of the north. 
. . . Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness 
of four living creatures. And this was their appear- 
ance ; they had the likeness of a man. And every 
one had four faces, and every one had four wings. . . . 
As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the 
face of man, and the face of a lion on the right side ; 
and they four had the face of an ox on the left side ; 
they four also had the face of an eagle. ..." 

The Transfiguration of Raphael is one of his strongest 
compositions. Only parts of the picture were painted 
by him, but the design was his, and he made many care- 
ful drawings and studies preparatory to the final work. 
The upper part of the composition represents the trans- 
figuration of Christ on Mt. Tabor, in the presence of 
Peter, James, and John, who see in a vision Moses and 
Elias talking with Him. It represents the moment 




Haphael. 



The Sistikb Max>onna. 



77 



78 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

when from the clouds came these words, — " This is 
my beloved son, hear ye Him." 

In the lower part of the picture is presented a pain- 
ful experience that the apostles had just passed through 
while waiting for their Master. A man with a lunatic 
son had brought his boy to them to be cured ; but they 
were powerless to help him. They could only tell the 
suffering father of their Master, who was on the moun- 
tain, and bid him wait to appeal to Christ. The figure 
of the Redeemer was painted by Raphael himself, and 
also the graceful female figure in the foreground. 

Raphael worked with untiring energy and faithful- 
ness from year to year. Modest and temperate in his 
manner of living, he was able to accomplish a vast 
amount in his short life. When he laid down his brush, 
his power was at its fullest, and there was still the 
promise of greater development. 

While at work upon the Transfiguration, Raphael went 
hurriedly to the Vatican one day to see the Pope about 
some business connected with his duties as architect of 
St. Peter's. He caught cold while waiting in an ante- 
chamber, and a severe illness resulted from overwork and 
exposure. He was ill but a short time, and on Good 
Friday, 1520, he died at the age of thirty-seven years. 

All Rome was saddened by the blow, for Raphael had 
the rare joy of being loved and appreciated by his con- 
temporaries. His group of scholars must have felt that 
their " virtue had gone out of them," for he was all in 
all to them. His funeral was a most impressive one, 
and the Transfiguration, with the colors still wet from 
his hand, was carried behind the bier. He was buried 
under the chapel of the Pantheon at Rome. 



VI. CORREGGIO. 

1494-1534. 

Apart from the stir and excitement of the art world 
at Florence and Rome, and little influenced by the 
other great artists of his day, Antonio Allegri, more 
often called Correggio, from the place of his birth, 
wrought out his visions of beauty and gladness. He 
was born in a small town near Modena, in 1494, and he 
lived chiefly in Correggio and in Parma. Very little 
is known about his life, because he lived so quietly and 
mingled so little with the great world. His father 
was a cloth merchant, who, being in comfortable cir- 
cumstances, determined that his son should have a 
good general education. Thus, when Correggio began 
his art studies, he had a well-trained mind, which must 
have helped him to solve the art problems that lay 
before him. 

If only some glimpses of the youthful days of this 
poetic painter had been given to us ! But not an anec- 
dote remains to lift the veil that hides his life from the 
world. He certainly loved sunshine, and shadow,, and 
all the splendor and witchery of color ; and his soul 
must have reveled in all the joyous aspects of nature. 
Often, as he sat gazing at some lovely bit of woodland, 
his imagination must have peopled the scene with 
nymphs and satyrs ; for how else could he have painted 
with such poetic feeling those tenants of the forest and 
stream ? 

79 



80 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

One of Correggio's earliest pictures is an altarpiece 
called the Madonna of St. Francis. It was painted for the 
Minorite monks of Correggio, in 1514, when the artist 
was twenty years old. This painting shows that he 
had studied the works of Leonardo da Vinci, and had 
learned from them those principles of light and shade 
that the great Florentine had discovered ; and that 
he probably gained his training in drawing and color 
in the school of the Paduan painter, Andrea Mantegna. 
Thus he was influenced b}^ two of the most intellectual 
painters of the preceding age. 

An interesting thing that came to Correggio was a 
commission to decorate the principal chamber of the 
convent of St. Paolo at Parma for the abbess, who with 
her nuns enjoyed unusual liberty, and lived like a 
woman of the world, surrounded by luxury and ele- 
gance. A learned man, the father of one of the nuns, 
chose the subjects, which, strangely enough for a reli- 
gious house, were scenes from the old myths. Correggio 
found this a task after his own heart, and he set about 
the work with enthusiasm. The central group, repre- 
senting Diana returning from the chase, is very beauti- 
ful. " Chaste and fair," she drives her chariot through 
the sky, a "goddess excellently bright." 

In 1520 Correggio was married to a lady of good 
family, and her gentle face appears in a picture of the 
flight into Egypt, called La Zingarella, or the Gypsy, 
on account of the peculiar headdress worn by the 
Madonna. 

In the same year he began an important work, the 
decoration of the dome of the Church of St. John the 
Evangelist at Parma. Until the time of Mantesfna it 



CORREGGIO. 81 

had been the custom to decorate domes according to 
the manner of the Byzantine artists ; that is, the dome 
was decorated in equal sections, and the designs for all 
sections were somewhat similar. Mantegna, however, 
dealt with the problem in a new and original way, 
using one great composition instead of subdividing the 
dome into parts. Correggio followed in his footsteps, 
and chose as his subject the Ascension of Christ, repre- 
senting all the figures as seen from below. The figure 
of Christ ascending to heaven occupied the center of 
the dome. Below, on clouds, were the apostles, while 
over the supporting columns were the evangelists and 
the fathers of the Church. This work required un- 
usual skill in the representation of the body in various 
attitudes, so that only a great draughtsman like Cor- 
reggio would have been equal to the task. 

The decoration of the dome of St. John's won glory 
for the artist, and six years afterward he was engaged 
to decorate the dome of the Cathedral of Parma. 
Again he attempted a single composition, this time 
choosing the Assumption of the Virgin. In the center, 
high up, he painted the radiant figure of Christ, which 
illuminated the whole upper part of the dome. Imme- 
diately below, he placed saints ; and lower still, the prin- 
cipal group of the Virgin borne in triumph by angels. 
The decoration was carried down to the base of the 
windows, which were included in the dome, and in the 
spaces were saints, genii, angels, and the patron saints 
of Parma. 

The vast design is characterized by richness of color, 
brilliant effects of light and shade, unusual and difficult 
attitudes of the figures, and by forms of radiant beauty. 



82 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

The effect of the whole is novel and startling. It 
called forth much discussion, and one critic declared, 
" The painter has given us a hash of frogs," because the 
crowded nature of the composition makes it difficult 
to tell to what bodies the legs and arms belong. The 
work was so extraordinary that hosts of imitators arose, 
but few artists have been successful in this mode of 
dome decoration. 

Remarkable as Correggio was as a fresco painter, 
he is yet more famous for his oil paintings. The 
greatest of his numerous altarpieces is the Madonna 
of St. Sebastian. He painted, also, many smaller easel 
pictures on sacred and mythological subjects. The 
most beautiful of his Madonnas is in the Holy Night. In 
this picture is shown Correggio's power to represent the 
sublimity of light. The radiance of the Christ Child 
falls upon the group about Him, and their faces are 
transfigured as in some beatific vision. One exquisite 
note in the picture is expressed in the figure of the 
woman, who, standing in the full splendor of the 
divine light, shades her eyes to gaze upon the Child. 
Another Madonna called Day contains a splendidly 
conceived figure of St. Jerome, and the Madonna of 
the Cup is a picture full of the rarest grace and charm. 
In both of these pictures the childish forms are the 
embodiment of laughing joy. 

In 1519, on the occasion of the marriage of his own 
sister Catherine, Correggio painted the Mystic Marriage 
of St. Catherine. The legend of St. Catherine of Alex- 
andria has formed the subject of many pictures. It runs 
as follows : Catherine was a princess of Alexandria, noted 
for her beauty and wisdom. The people wished her to 




Correggi 



The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine. 



83 



84 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

marry, but she said, " I can only marry a man who is 
so noble that all will worship him, so great as not to be 
indebted to me for his title of King, so rich that no one 
shall have such treasures as he, and so benign as to for- 
give all offenses." The people were sorrowful at her 
answer, for they knew of no one great enough to be 
such a bridegroom. A holy hermit had told her that 
Christ was to be her bridegroom. After that she had 
a dream in which Mary and Jesus appeared to her, and 
rejected her. She was then baptized, became a Chris- 
tian, and devoted her days to studying how to be worthy 
of her heavenly spouse. Again she dreamed that Mary 
and Jesus appeared to her, and that Jesus accepted her, 
and plighted His troth with a ring. When she awoke 
the ring was on her finger, and she spent the remainder 
of her life in trying to convert the heathen to Christi- 
anity, and in the service of her chosen Master. At last 
she suffered martyrdom at the hands of the Emperor 
Maximian. 

Correggio has given a beautiful interpretation of the 
legend. The Madonna is seated at the left of the pic- 
ture, holding the Infant Christ on her knees. At the 
right, St. Catherine kneels to receive the nuptial ring, 
passed over her finger by the Child. St. Sebastian 
stands behind her, and looks on with delight and rap- 
ture in his face. In the background are represented 
scenes from the lives of both martyrs. The gladness 
and loveliness in the faces, the rare beauty of the hands, 
the winsomeness of the Child, the glorious color, and the 
wonderful golden light and transparent shadows, com- 
bine to make the picture a vision of pure delight. It is 
like some splendid jewel in its completeness, and in its 



COEREGGIO. 85 

witchery of light and color. It does not excite reli- 
gious emotion, nor does it call forth thought or specu- 
lation. One stands spellbound before it, convinced 
that "beauty is its own excuse for being." 

Of Correggio's other pictures on sacred subjects, the 
best known are the Reading Magdalen, the Ecce Homo, 
and the Noli me Tangere. The Ecce Homo represents 
Pilate pointing to Christ, and uttering the memorable 
words, " Ecce Homo ! " (" Behold the man ! "). It was 
not a subject suited to Correggio's powers, for he was 
rarely successful in treating painful themes. The fig- 
ure of the fainting Mary is fine, but that of Christ lacks 
power and majesty. The Noli me Tangere is a little 
picture, not more than a foot high, but it is painted 
with such dramatic power that it is full of the deepest 
pathos. The Magdalen kneels at Christ's feet as He 
passes her in the garden, and as she reaches to touch 
the hem of His garment, He prevents her, saying, "Noli 
me tangere" ("Touch me not"). This picture was 
given to an apothecary in payment for a debt, but it 
finally fell into the hands of the king of Spain. 

For the Duke of Mantua, Correggio painted a num- 
ber of pictures on mythological subjects. Among them 
are : Jupiter and Jo, Venus and Mercury Teaching Cupid 
his Letters, Jupiter and Antiope, and Danae, which con- 
tains two well-known figures, the exquisite little Cupids 
Sharpening their Arrows. These pictures possess the 
great qualities of his work. They reveal a poetic appre- 
ciation of the joyous, unreflective spirit of the Greek 
nymphs and satyrs, which no other artist of his day 
possessed. In them may be seen his marvelously skill- 
ful rendering of lights, shadows, and the tones that lie 



86 



SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 



between these, producing the " illusion of atmosphere " 
and space. 

In these, as in other works, Correggio stands forth as 
one of the greatest colorists the world has known. An 
English critic thus describes the color in his pictures, 
— " That cord of jocund color, which may fitly be com- 




Gorreggio. 



Cupids Sharpening their Arrows. 



bined with the smiles of sunlight, the clear blue found 
in laughing eyes, the pinks that tinge the cheeks of 
early youth, and the warm yet silvery tones of healthy 
flesh, mingle as in a pearl shell in his pictures." 

Correggio died in 1534, just as he was about to begin 
a large fresco. His work is an expression of one phase 



CORREGGIO. 87 

of the varied life and spirit of the Renaissance. His 
very name, Allegri, signifying joy, expresses the essence 
of his artistic nature. He was burdened with no 
weighty message to the world ; but out of smiles, sun- 
light, and abounding life and joyous movement in 
forms of grace and beauty, he wrought his blithesome 
songs of light and love. His spirit was characterized 
by extreme gentleness and mildness. He was modest 
in his judgment of himself and of his work, not car- 
ing for the praise of the world. He was content to 
work in quiet and seclusion, his only ambition being 
to reach the highest perfection possible in the art of 
painting. 

Glad like Raphael, but less calm, majestic, and 
thoughtful, rejoicing rather in tumultuous movement 
and laughing faces ; delighting, like Leonardo, in 
exquisite effects of light and shade, but never, like 
him, mysterious and subtle ; audacious in foreshorten- 
ing the human figure, like Michelangelo, but never, 
like him, overawing by his profound meditations, Cor- 
reggio yet holds the world captive with admiration. 



VII. TITIAN. 
1477-1576. 

Tiztano Vecelli, better known as Titian, was born 
in 1477, at Caclore, a district north of Venice. When a 
mere boy, he left his mountain home and went to the 
great city to study the art of painting in the studio of 
John Bellini. As a child, he was fond of drawing, and 
there is a tradition that he showed bis inborn love of 
color by painting a picture of the Madonna with juices 
extracted from flowers. 

Titian was an earnest, faithful student, and he had 
an excellent master, so his progress was steady and sure. 
Like Raphael, he had an open mind, keenly sensitive 
to beauty and with the power to learn readily from his 
master and from his companions, among whom the bril- 
liant Giorgione influenced him more than any other. 
Another artist whose work interested Titian in the 
early part of his career, was the German painter, 
Albrecht Durer, who was in Italy in 1495 and again 
in 150(3. Various other influences were brought to 
bear on the young Venetian, but he gradually acquired 
a style of painting thoroughly his own. 

The luxury-loving Venetians delighted in adorning 
their palaces, and some of the first orders that Titian 
received after he had served his apprenticeship were 
for decorative paintings on the exteriors and interiors 
of palaces in Venice and on the mainland. When the 



TITIAN. 89 

Venetians decided to decorate the German Trading 
House, a great, unadorned building on the Rialto, 
Giorgione and Titian were employed to paint for its 
walls allegorical figures and scenes from sacred history 
and from the history of Venice. Giorgione decorated 
the facade toward the canal, and Titian the one toward 
the Rialto. The Venetian writers speak of these fres- 
coes with great enthusiasm ; but they disappeared long 
ago, except one faint and faded figure by Giorgione, 
which is still seen " flaming like the reflection of a 
sunset." 

The two artists worked in happy emulation, not only 
painting together but living together like brothers, until 
an unfortunate occurrence wounded the proud and 
sensitive Giorgione. When Titian's great Judith over 
the door was uncovered, some comrades, pretending not 
to know who painted it, crowded round Giorgione and 
declared that in this work he had surpassed himself, 
and that the frescoes on the canal side were inferior to 
it. After this Giorgione was not seen in public for 
some time, and the pleasant intimacy between the 
artists was at an end. In 1511, when his fellow- 
worker died, Titian was left without a peer in Venice, 
and he was intrusted with the completion of the decora- 
tions on the German Trading House. 

A series of frescoes in the Church of St. Anthony at 
Padua were among the first religious pictures painted 
by Titian. They represent scenes in the life of the 
saint, and are still in Padua. To this early period of 
his career belong two celebrated pictures on sacred 
subjects, the Tribute Money and the Presentation of 
the Virgin. The latter subject was a favorite one with 



90 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

painters, and it is interesting to compare Giotto's and 
Titian's Presentation of the Virgin, for each is a reflection 
of the times in which the painter lived. 

Titian's picture presents a vivid panorama of Vene- 
tian life. All sorts of people are gathered together to 
witness the ceremony, from motives either of interest or 
of curiosity. The Virgin, on whom all eyes are fastened, 
is a quaint little maid with a strange mien. At the 
foot of the temple steps are groups of figures, probably 
true and characteristic portraits of people of Titian's 
day. The striking figure of the egg seller, old and 
ugly as she is, is a skillful touch of human nature, 
and forms a picturesque element in the foreground. 
The stately architecture and the beauty of coloring 
help to make the picture a splendid piece of decorative 
painting. 

In 1514 Titian went to Ferrara at the invitation of 
Duke Alphonso of Ferrara. There he painted a number 
of pictures for the Duke, among them the Bacchus and 
Ariadne. From time to time during his life, he painted 
other pictures on mythological subjects, and then his 
brush seemed an enchanted one. His rich and splendid 
color, and his delightful treatment of landscape enabled 
him to paint myths and allegories with rare charm. 
He painted a beautiful Sleeping Venus, and such was 
the enthusiasm of the painter's friends that they de- 
clared it to be more beautiful than the famous Venus de 
Medici. 

While at work on a picture of Danae in a golden 
shower, Titian was visited in his studio at Rome by 
Michelangelo. The Florentine greatly admired the 
painting ; but he expressed a regret that the Venetian 




91 



92 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

painters were not taught from the beginning to pay 
more attention to drawing, adding that if Titian had 
been greater as a draughtsman, he should rank him 
above any other painter in the world. 

One of the loveliest of all the ideal figures painted 
by Titian is that of Flora. The coloring in the picture 
is rich and beautiful, and the face and form of the god- 
dess are so exquisite that she seems an embodiment of 
the sweetness and bounty of the queen of summer. 

An allegorical picture, sometimes called Sacred and 
Profane Love, though the name does not seem to ex- 
plain its meaning, is one of the most noted of Titian's 
works. In looking at it one's admiration is divided 
between the two lovely figures beside the fountain, the 
one in her noble matronly beauty, and the other exqui- 
site and chaste as a spirit, holding a lamp in her uplifted 
hand. 

Another of his allegorical pictures, now at the 
Louvre, was painted at the order of Duke Alphonso of 
Avalos, generalissimo of Charles V., before his depar- 
ture to fight against the Turks. The Duke wished to 
have a group of portraits on a single canvas, represent- 
ing him as saying farewell to his wife and to his little 
son, who was to be represented as Cupid. In the pic- 
ture, also, are two symbolic figures representing Victory 
and Hymen, the goddess of Marriage. Another group 
of somewhat similar nature contains the portraits of 
Laura di Diante and of Duke Alphonso of Ferrara, 
who is holding two mirrors, while the beautiful woman 
with a face resembling that of Flora arranges her hair. 

All Titian's early works seem to speak of a joyous, 
healthful youth, untouched by melancholy, but rejoicing 



TITIAN. 93 

rather in the gladness of life, and always attracted by 
the strong, majestic elements in nature and in life. 

It was either during his visit to Ferrara, or immedi- 
ately after his return to Venice, that Titian received an 
invitation to go to Rome, to enter the service of Pope 
Leo X. He did not accept the invitation, but with an 
eye to his own advancement, he made the most of the 
honor paid to him. He wished to enter the service of 
the Venetian state, and he gave the city an opportu- 
nity to retain his services on condition that they would 
promise him certain things ; otherwise, he said, he 
should go to Rome. He asked that the office of broker's 
patent should be given to him as soon as it was vacant, 
notwithstanding previous promises or claims. Also, he 
asked that the state should allow him two assistants for 
his work, as well as the materials necessary for it. 
Though he did not get all he asked for, he decided to 
remain at Venice. In 1516 he obtained the broker- 
ship, though not without a great deal of trouble. 
Eager as he was to get this office, which required him to 
paint the portraits of the doges and finish the decora- 
tive paintings in the Council Hall, he was so neglectful 
of his duties that the Venetians threatened to deprive 
him of the brokership.- Then he was obliged to finish 
the frescoes, though his heart was in the many pictures 
he was painting for the princes of Europe who desired 
to possess his works. 

The young painter did not at first gain a place in the 
hearts of his fellow-citizens. It was not until his praises 
had been sounded at Ferrara, Bologna, and Rome, that 
Venice began to honor him. He was for some years " a 
prophet not without honor save in his own country." 




The Assumption of the Virgin. 
94 



TITIAN. 95 

When one sees to-da}^ the Assumption of the Virgin 
occupying a sort of throne in the Venetian Academy, 
it is hard to believe that the painter suffered many 
doubts and annoyances while painting it. Fra Marco, 
who ordered it at his own expense for the Church 
of Santa Maria de' Frari, wavered from time to time 
in his opinion of it, and kept the artist in an uncom- 
fortable uncertainty in regard to its final acceptance. 
Day after day, the monks passing in and out of the con- 
vent annoyed him with their ignorant criticisms. They 
would shake their heads under their hoods, saying that 
the apostles were too large, or that the color of the 
Virgin's robe was not as it should be. At last an 
envoy of the emperor saw the painting and offered a 
large sum for it. Then Fra Marco concluded not to 
let the picture go at any price. He provided a rich 
gold frame for it, and very soon all adverse criticisms 
were forgotten. It is now numbered among the great- 
est single oil paintings in the world. 

Titian's Assumption follows the tradition found in 
the " Legends of the Saints," which says that the Virgin 
besought the angel who announced to her the hour of 
her death and assumption into heaven, to grant that she 
should give up her soul to God in the presence of all the 
apostles. The upper part of the picture represents the 
glorious, majestic figure of the Virgin rising to heaven 
where the Father awaits her ; while below, the apostles, 
miraculously brought together, witness the assumption. 
There is intense yearning in all the faces of this 
shadowy group, as they cry out to the Virgin, ascend- 
ing to heaven, " O most prudent Virgin, remember us 
when thou comest to thy glory ! " 



96 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

Next to the Assumption, the most sublime work of 
Titian is the Entombment. It was painted in 1520, for 
the Duke of Mantua, and it was so remarkable in its 
color, composition, and its marvelous presentation of 
the subject, that it had a great influence on the art 
of the time. 

The Magdalen, sent by Titian as a gift to Philip II. 
of Spain, and the fresco of St. Christopher, are among 
the celebrated pictures that Titian painted on sacred 
subjects. The latter picture illustrates the old legend 
of the giant Offero who, wishing to serve the mightiest 
king on the earth, traveled far and wide until he found 
one more powerful than all others. But Offero soon 
saw that the king was filled with fear at the name of 
Satan ; so lie sought out Satan that he might serve him. 
One day, however, he saw Satan tremble at the sign of 
the cross. Then he determined to find Christ and 
serve him. He asked the advice of a hermit, who told 
him that he might serve his Master by carrying people 
over a certain stream which was very dangerous to 
cross. Offero built himself a hut beside the stream, 
and taking a palm tree for a staff, he carried travelers 
across day after day. 

At length one stormy night, he heard a child's voice 
saying, " Christopher, carry me over." He went out of 
the hut and saw a child on the shore. He then took 
his staff, and putting the little one on his shoulder, 
entered the stream. As the storm rose, the child grew 
heavier and heavier, until Offero nearly sank under his 
burden. When they reached the shore, the giant found 
that he had carried the Christ Child himself, who said, 
" Christopher, I accept thy service, and as a proof, plant 




St. Christopher. 
97 



98 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

thy staff and it shall blossom and bear fruit." He did 
so, and the dry palm tree bore clusters of dates. 
Then the Child vanished, and the giant was no longer 
called Offero, the bearer, but Christopher, the Christ- 
bearer. 

Titian painted a number of Madonnas, remarkable, 
like all his works, for the splendid color, the beauty 
of the forms, and the composition ; but they are not 
religious pictures, judged by the standards of the reli- 
gious painters of Florence and Venice. Titian painted 
a Madonna one day and a Venus the next, in much the 
same spirit. The Pesaro Madonna, at the Church of 
the Frari, is characteristically beautiful. Although 
the Virgin is of an exquisite type, the interest in the 
picture centers in the masterly portraits of the Pesaro 
family, kneeling in the foreground. Among the noble, 
dignified men there is one lovely young face with a 
sweet, appealing look that haunts one. 

While Titian was at Ferrara, he painted his cele- 
brated portraits of the infamous Lucretia Borgia and 
of Ariosto, the poet. Before this, Titian had painted 
a portrait of Catherine Cornaro, queen of Cyprus, who 
had been a widow for many years, and had been com- 
pelled by the Venetians to give up her kingdom. She 
was living among them in a sort of captivity, and 
her misfortunes excited much interest and sympathy. 
Titian's portrait of one who was so much in the minds 
of the public brought him into notice and added to 
his reputation. It is especially interesting as the first 
in a superb series of portraits by the master, a series 
unsurpassed for beauty, for strength, and for revelation 
of character. 



TITIAN. 99 

In 1530 Titian went to Bologna, where he met Pope 
Clement VII. and Charles V., king of Spain and em- 
peror of Germany. He was introduced to these poten- 
tates through Aretino, a writer of the day, whose 
favorite boast was that he was the friend of Titian 
and the scourge of princes. He was a malicious and 
unprincipled man, and was noted for his scurrilous wit 
and brilliant sarcasm ; but he had the power of in- 
sinuating himself into the society of young princes, 
and thus had influence at court. 

Titian painted a portrait of Pope Clement VII. and 
also an equestrian portrait of Charles V. Two years 
later he painted a second portrait of the emperor with 
an Irish wolf dog. Titian was then created count 
palatine, and other honors were conferred on him by 
Charles V. Again, at Augsburg, he painted a third 
portrait of his Majesty. It was on this occasion that 
the emperor picked up some brushes the artist had let 
fall and handed them to him in the presence of the 
astonished courtiers. In reply to the artist's humble 
words, " Your servant is unworthy such an honor," he 
said, "Titian is worthy to be served by Ciesar." 
Charles V. granted him a pension in recognition of 
his services, but it was irregularly paid, and most of the 
letters of the artist that are in existence contain com- 
plaints of neglect in its payment. 

Titian painted two portraits of another great per- 
sonage, Pope Paul III. The second, a wonderful 
portrait, was executed at Rome, and it represents the 
Pope and his two favorite nephews. He also painted 
several portraits of his friend Aretino, and a fine por- 
trait of Francis I. of France, painted from a medal. 

L.ofC. 



100 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

Titian's portraits of the titled men of his day were 
no more masterly than those of private individuals. 
One feels in them all the expression of character and 
individuality which are the supreme qualities of strong 
portraits. Such a work is the Man with a Grlove. His 
portraits of himself are interesting also. They all rep- 
resent him as a middle-aged man, and the most distin- 
guished of them is at the Uffizi Gallery. The portrait 
called Bella is one of the most beautiful of his portraits 
of women. 

In speaking of Titian, one writer says, " It is hard to 
enumerate the qualities of one who followed, as he did, 
the middle path of perfection." A power of seeing 
beauty in nature, and rendering it with truth and at 
the same time with the enchantment of poetic feeling, 
a knowledge and appreciation of color in all its variety 
and splendor, and a skill in portraiture unsurpassed by 
any master, — these are some of the qualities that raised 
him to the highest rank. Like Raphael, Titian had the 
rare gift of producing works so simple, harmonious, 
and beautiful that the most unlearned can enjoy them, 
while the wisest critic considers them among the most 
precious art treasures of the world. 

What a life of industry, success, and honor Titian 
enjoyed ! At Venice he was the dictator in all art 
matters ; he was courted by popes, emperors, and 
kings ; princes were eager for his works ; and men of 
letters were happy to enjoy his hospitality. 

After success came to him, he went to live in a 
delightful part of Venice, where he could look across 
the sea to the island of Murano and the long line of the 
Alps. He had two sons and a very beautiful daughter, 



TITIAN. 101 

Lavinia, of whom he painted many portraits. One of 
his sons, Pomponia, was a worthless fellow and caused 
his father much trouble ; the other son was devoted to 
him and assisted him to the end of his life. Titian 
loved his art above all things ; but he was fond of 
money and pleasure and all the luxuries of life. Deep 
down in his heart there was also a love for his family 
and his mountain home at Cadore, and he was always 
generous to his kindred there. 

Titian possessed a fine collection of pictures, and he 
always had a number of his own ready to give away, if 
he thought he could win favor or advantage thereby ; 
for Titian, throughout his long life, that lacked only a 
year to make it a century, knew, better than most 'men 
of his craft, how to look out for his own interests. 

Count Titian, as he was called, entertained his friends 
royally in his beautiful home beside the lagoon. Many 
were the feasts beneath the trees in his garden on 
summer evenings. Aretino was often there to enliven 
the guests with the latest court gossip. Sansovino, the 
sculptor, was a frequent guest, and many Other brilliant 
men enjoyed the painter's hospitality. They talked of 
art and literature and matters of interest at the time. 
As the moon and the stars came out, the sound of oars 
on the canal and the songs of the gondoliers hushed 
deep discussions, and stories were told, while all lis- 
tened to the sweet harmonies that floated across the 
water. The passers-by must have cast many a glance 
through the trees, eager to catch a glimpse of the ven- 
erable painter, seated among his distinguished guests. 

Titian painted on until his death, never admitting 
that his hand was failing. When he was very old, he 



102 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

painted a picture of the Annunciation for San Salvatore, 
and when some one declared it could not be his, on 
account of its inferiority, he was very angry and has- 
tened to sign the work with a firm hand to show the 
world that he was proud of it. 

At last, after all his friends had passed away, death 
came to him in a terrible form. He and his son were 
among the first victims of the plague which ravaged 
Venice in 1576. When the nature of his disease became 
known, he was deserted, and, before his very eyes, some 
ruffians robbed him of his jewels and valuables. Though 
it was the law that no one dying from the plague should 
be buried in church, Titian was honored with a burial 
in Santa Maria de' Frari, where he had painted his great 
picture of the Assumption of the Virgin. 



VIII. VERONESE. 
1530(?)-1588. 

From the neighboring city of Verona came the last 
of the great Venetian painters, Paolo Caliari, called, 
from the place of his birth, Veronese. He belonged 
to a family of artists, for his father and grandfather 
were stonecutters and sculptors, and two of his uncles 
were painters. Art in Verona had developed some 
qualities peculiar to itself, although her painters were 
educated in the schools of Venice and Padua. They 
were especially noted for their representation on vast 
canvases of splendid architecture, rich costumes, and 
the elegance and magnificence of courts and kings. It 
remained for Paul Veronese to surpass them all. 

Veronese was born between the years 1528 and 1532, 
but the exact date is not known. No traditions of his 
youth, no record of the events of his life, scarcely a 
letter, remain to tell us of his happy, industrious career. 
Here and there, in the annals of the time, some passing 
mention is made of him ; and his name is frequently 
found in the papers of the officers who had charge of 
the duty on salt, for from this source of revenue Venice 
paid for many of her works of art. We know at least 
that the young Veronese began to study with his father, 
who hoped that his son would excel him as a sculptor. 
But as the boy was much more interested in the work 
that his uncle, the painter, was doing, his father gave 

103 



104 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

up his cherished ambition, and apprenticed him to a 
painter in Verona. 

A Madonna and Two Saints was the first important pic- 
ture painted by Veronese. It was some time later that 
an opportunity came to show what he could do. He 
and one of his comrades were intrusted with the deco- 
ration of two villas, one at Vicenza and the other at 
Treviso. The young painter, who had been restless at 
Verona for lack of work suited to his ambitious mind, 
now covered the vast panels on the walls of the villas, 
painting with the happiest freedom. He represented 
scenes of gayety and splendor, feasts, hunts, and balls. 
Figures from mythology, history, poetry, and romance, 
together with ladies and knights of Venice, Vicenza, 
and Treviso, enlivened the brilliant scenes brought 
forth by the painter's fascinating brush. 

Veronese had been longing for the larger opportuni- 
ties that Venice could afford him. When he was about 
twenty-three years old, he went thither, and the city of 
the doges became his adopted home. He carried with 
him a letter to the prior of the convent of St. Sebastian, 
and his first Venetian commission was a Coronation of 
the Virgin for the sacristy of the convent- church. He 
painted a number of other pictures for the convent ; and 
these works were so successful that he was chosen to 
decorate the ceiling of the same church with a picture 
representing, by several groups, the story of Esther. 

By this time Veronese had learned much from the 
works of Titian and other great Venetian painters, and 
he had lived long enough in Venice to feel the spell of 
her beauty. He rejoiced in her beautifully colored 
architecture, in her soft atmosphere, and in her delicate 



VERONESE. 105 

skies. The fetes, too, with their joyous enthusiasm 
and with their groups of ladies and knights robed in 
rich Oriental stuffs, lending picturesqueness to the 
scene, filled his pageant-loving soul with delight. 
When the Venetians looked at his ceiling decorations 
in the Church of St. Sebastian, they felt that Veronese 
had caught the spirit of their beloved Venice, and their 
enthusiasm over his work was great. His career now 
promised to be successful, for this painting was a step- 
ping-stone to many commissions from the senate. 

Titian was eighty-four years old at the time when 
Venice was holding out a welcoming hand to a new 
master. He was always generous to Veronese, and 
recognized in him the future head of the Venetian 
school of art. He did all he could to win for him the 
favor of the senate. Veronese was so happy by nature 
and so generous in his appreciation, that he made many 
friends, and he was everywhere respected for the dig- 
nity and justness of his character. 

Between the years 1555 and 1565 Veronese was 
called upon to paint altarpieces in a number of Vene- 
tian churches ; and he was also employed in decorating 
churches, palaces, and villas on the mainland. At the 
Villa Barbaro, near Asolo, he decorated the halls and 
chambers. It must have been a congenial task, for the 
villa was worthy of his work, and its patrician owner 
was a man of taste and an artist as well. The villa 
was planned by the greatest Venetian architect of the 
day, the stucco work was designed by the ablest Vene- 
tian sculptor, and it needed only the brush of the magi- 
cian, Veronese, to make its magnificence complete. 
Among the many frescoes that he painted there, Im- 





W**> f* 










m V' M 




■ 1 
Up! 








■El jr w^d 


' ■* 



The Girl in Black. 



100 



VERONESE. 107 

mortality Surrounded by the Divinities of Olympus is the 
most interesting. 

Two important works were undertaken by Veronese 
after he finished the decorations at this villa. One of 
these was the decoration of the ceiling of the hall where 
the Council of Ten met, and the other was the prepara- 
tion of designs for the new halls in the Library of St. 
Mark. Other artists also prepared designs for the 
library, but when Titian saw those of Veronese, he was 
so filled with admiration that he did all in his power 
to influence the senate to award the commission to him. 
Veronese carried off the palm, and the senate as a re- 
ward gave him a chain of gold, which he always wore 
on public occasions. 

In 1563 Veronese painted one of his masterpieces, the 
Marriage at Cana, which commemorates the miracle of 
water turned into wine. In treating the subject, Vero- 
nese disregarded all limitations of space and time, and 
pictured a Venetian feast of the most sumptuous ele- 
gance. The canvas is an exceedingly large one, meas- 
uring thirty by twenty feet. On this he presented a 
great spectacle, offset by a superb background of archi- 
tecture that delights the eye with its marble porticoes, 
balustrades, and balconies showing against a luminous 
sky. At the feast are gathered, besides Christ, and the 
Virgin Mary and the twelve apostles, men and women 
of all times, including prominent Venetians then living. 
The picture contains portraits of Don Alphonso of Ava- 
los, Eleanor of Austria, Francis I. of France, Queen Mary 
of England, Soliman I., Vittoria Colonna, and Charles 
V. of Spain. Veronese himself appears playing on the 
viol, while Titian plays the bass. The brother of Vero- 



108 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

nese is in the group of figures in the foreground, and 
the major-domo, wearing a turban, is Aretino. 

In looking at this vast assemblage of guests, attended 
by slaves, jesters, pages, and musicians, enjoying a 
magnificent feast served on vessels of gold and silver, 
one forgets that it is a religious scene, and sees in it 
only the dazzling pomp, the festive enjoyment, the life 
and movement, and the splendid tone of the whole pic- 
ture. All is so rich, so varied, so harmonious, that the 
vast composition is a feast for the eyes, as a great sym- 
phony is for the ear. 

The Feast at the House of the Leper was painted by 
Veronese in 1570, and it is now in the Church of St. 
Sebastian, where he gained such success when he first 
went to Venice. 

For the Church of St. John and St. Paul Veronese 
painted the Feast at the House of Simon. Because of 
this picture Veronese was brought to trial before the 
grand inquisitors, in 1573. During the trial, the artist 
was called upon to explain why he had introduced into a 
sacred picture heretical Germans with halberds, dwarfs, 
buffoons, parrots, dogs, and various other details. He 
was ordered to change the figure of a dog for that of 
the Magdalen, and to make other changes at his own 
expense. The artist replied that such a change was 
unfitting, and that he had filled the space as he consid- 
ered best. But he renamed the picture, calling it the 
Feast at the House of Levi, so that there was no longer 
any suitability in introducing the figure of the Mag- 
dalen, since she was not present at the feast at the 
house of Matthew the Publican, who is called Levi by 
St. Luke. 




109 



110 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

The questions and the answers in this trial are inter- 
esting to us now, as they reveal something of the charac- 
ter of Veronese and his artistic ideals. A translation 
of the document describing the trial may be found in a 
pamphlet by John Ruskin, entitled " A Guide to the 
Principal Pictures of the Venetian Academy." 

Another feast was painted for the church of the Ser- 
vite monks. It is called the Feast at the House of Simon, 
and it is now in the Salon Carre, at the Louvre, hanging 
opposite the Marriage at Cana. 

In 1565 Veronese went to Rome, and there he gained 
new inspiration by a study of the ancient works of 
architecture and sculpture in the city, and of the master- 
pieces of Michelangelo and Raphael. After his return 
to Venice he received an invitation from Philip II. of 
Spain to go to his court, but he loved Verona and 
Venice and his own kindred so much that he did not 
wish to go away. He was soon at work again, and to 
the end of his life he was constantly employed on public 
buildings at Venice. Several of his pictures were lost 
in the fire that destroyed a part of the Ducal Palace 
in 1577. 

When the Ducal Palace was rebuilt, many artists were 
requested to submit designs for the decorations. In 
connection with this competition is told one of the 
few anecdotes which give a glimpse of Veronese's 
character. While the other artists were using all their 
energies to influence the judges, he continued to work 
quietly at his studio, wasting no time. Contarino, a 
man of influence in art matters, was surprised to find 
Veronese apparently so indifferent about the affair, and 
remonstrated with him. The artist proudly replied, 



VERONESE. Ill 

"I should much prefer to merit honors than to seek 
them." He won the reward he desired, and he painted 
many decorations in the Ducal Palace, among which 
the greatest is the Triumph of Venice, painted on the 
ceiling of the Great Council Hall. Venice, as a queen or 
goddess, is seated on high, crowned by Glory, and sur- 
rounded by allegorical figures, — Honor, Liberty, Peace, 
— and the goddesses Juno and Ceres, as symbols of gran- 
deur and happiness. Lower down, a concourse of knights 
and ladies, splendidly attired, is represented in a gal- 
lery ; while on the ground are warriors on their chargers, 
and arms, ensigns, and trophies of war. It is a superb 
spectacle, glorious with movement, form, and color. 

There is hardly a hall in the Ducal Palace that does 
not contain some of Veronese's work. He painted there 
historical subjects, such as the Military Expedition of 
the Doge Loredano ; and allegorical subjects, such as the 
beautiful series on one of the ceilings, representing In- 
dustry holding a spider's web over her head, Moderation 
holding by one hand an eagle and in the other a feather 
plucked from its wing, Fidelity, Fortitude, and Vigilance. 

Veronese's skill in treating mythological scenes is 
shown in the Rape of Furopa, one of the finest decora- 
tions in the Ducal Palace. The Greek myth relates 
that Europa, the lovely daughter of the king of the 
Phoenicians, while strolling beside the sea one day with 
her companions, saw a white bull. Attracted by his 
beauty and gentleness, she mounted on his back, and 
her companions decked her with garlands showered 
down by cupids. Then the bull, who was really Jupi- 
ter in disguise, plunged into the sea with his prize and 
swam across to the island of Crete. 



112 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

Most of the European galleries possess interesting 
works by Veronese, for his paintings were much ad- 
mired, and princes and kings desired to possess them. 
Some of his pictures have been taken from the Venetian 
churches for which they were painted, and removed to 
the Venetian Academy. Among these is a Madonna 
Enthroned, in which is an exquisite figure of the infant 
St. John. Veronese was especially happy in rendering 
the charm of childhood, and many of his pictures con- 
tain beautiful children. 

At the National Gallery in London is a series of 
allegories, a lovely Saint Helena illustrating the legend 
of the origin of the cross, and the Family of Darius be- 
fore Alexander. This last picture was painted in secret, 
while the artist was staying at the house of the Pisani 
family, and on his departure he left it as a recognition 
of their hospitality. The compliment was the greater, 
as the figures in the picture are portraits of the family. 

Veronese painted many excellent portraits, which 
often appear in his pictures of the Madonna, and in 
historical pictures. In the Supper at Emmaus, the 
painter's family are represented at the right of the can- 
vas. Among other interesting portraits are those of 
his family, of his wife, of himself, and the G-irl in 
Black. 

Veronese worked with marvelous ease and freedom, 
and produced a large number of works. They are not 
profound, nor do they excite thought and feeling ; but 
they have the power to delight the eye. As the Mar- 
riage at Cana and his answers to the inquisitors show, 
he did not trouble himself about consistency, but placed 
together whatever elements he chose, in order to make 



VERONESE. 113 

his pictures beautiful. He was content to make Venice 
the scene for the enactment of all events in history or 
romance, and he dressed goddesses, nymphs, and people 
of all times in the costumes of his day. 

The Marriage at Cana and the Triumph of Venice 
reveal him at his greatest, the painter of pomp and pag- 
eantry, the master magician, who could turn a bare wall 
into such a palace as no king ever possessed, and spread 
before his heroic guests feasts that were most magnifi- 
cently served. He was eminently a painter for palaces 
and not for churches, for his religious pictures are lack- 
ing in religious sentiment. 

Veronese's life was a happy one. He was fond of 
the very things he loved to paint — dogs, horses, feasts, 
and rich robes. Proud, generous, and pleasure-loving, 
he was so noble and upright in character that he always 
enjoyed the respect of those about him. He died in 
1588, and was buried in the Church of St. Sebastian 
where he had painted many pictures. 



IX. HUBERT AND JAN VAN EYCK. 
1366-1426. 1390-1440. 

In the Salon Carre at the Louvre is a picture called 
the Madonna and Donor, which is much like and much 
unlike Italian pictures of the Madonna. The back- 
ground bespeaks another country, and so do the types 
of faces; but the spirit of sincere religious devotion is 
the same. This painting serves as an introduction to 
the early Flemish art or the art of Belgium, which 
had the same origin as Italian art. 

When the northern countries of Europe were con- 
verted to Christianity, monasteries were established 
everywhere. In those days monasteries were the treas- 
ure houses of art and literature, and many of the monks 
were engaged in copying manuscripts and in illuminat- 
ing them. They made illustrations of sacred scenes 
on the margins of the manuscripts, painting always in 
accordance with the laws of Byzantine art as laid down 
by the religious councils. Wherever they went, the 
monks carried their work with them, and thus their art 
became known in the countries converted to Christi- 
anity. The illumination of manuscripts was a task 
wonderfully adapted to the truth-loving, faithful spirit 
of the Flemish artists, who were among the most 
skillful illuminators that the world has known. When 
churches were established in Belgium, men of rank and 
114 



HUBERT AND JAN VAN EYCK. 115 

wealth gave large sums for altarpieces and other pic- 
tures. Then the painters of miniatures and the illumi- 
nators of manuscripts enlarged their style to suit the 
requirements of church decoration. 

The people of Belgium were interested in trade above 
all other things, and they had very practical ideals of 
life. We look in vain among them for the dreams and 
ecstasies of the early Italians. Life was to them very 
real, and their existence required a constant struggle 
with the elements, such as the people of Italy never 
knew. Among them were no Fra Angelicos, who 
spent their lives painting purely for the love of art 
and for the glory of God. Even art had a commercial 
value, and in many pictures on religious subjects the 
portrait of the donor appears to tell all the world to 
whose generosity it is indebted. 

Two brothers, Hubert and Jan Van Eyck, in the lat- 
ter part of the thirteenth century, had the courage and 
the skill to take nature for their guide instead of the 
stiff, unnatural pictures of the illuminators. Then sud- 
denly a new art, the art of Flanders, sprang into exist- 
ence and developed a power and charm all its own. 
Thus it is that between the works of the early illumi- 
nators, bound down as they were by the severe laws of 
Byzantine art, and the picture of the Madonna and 
Donor, there is a vast difference, just as there was in 
Italy between the works of the early Byzantines and 
those of Giotto. 

The Van Eycks chose for their subjects scriptural 
scenes and characters, and these they represented by 
views and figures taken from the life about them. 
They laid the scenes amid the landscapes, the architec- 



116 



SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 



ture, and the Flemish interiors familiar to them. This 
may be seen in their picture of the Madonna at the 
Louvre. The face of the Virgin, with bulging fore- 
head and prominent eyes, and the stern, strong face of 





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«/«« van Eych, 



The Madonna and Donor. 



the donor, are purely Flemish in type. The interior is 
painted with the rarest skill and with marvelous deli- 
cacy in the treatment of details. The same is true of 
the beautiful background which leads the eye across the 



HUBERT AND JAN VAN EYCK. 117 

country, with its river and bridges and spires, to the 
far-off horizon. The picture has the added charm of 
light exquisitely rendered, as well as rich, harmonious 
color, which has not darkened with age, but still has 
the luster and brilliancy of precious stones. 

Hubert and Jan Van Eyek were earnest students of 
everything connected with their profession. It is said 
that Jan Van Eyck, after finishing a certain picture on 
which he had spent much time and labor, varnished it 
and placed it in the sun to dry ; but the heat separated 
the panels of wood, and the work was ruined. Then 
the brothers set to work with renewed energy to dis- 
cover a colorless varnish that would dry in the shade, 
and a better method than was then known of mixing 
»color with oil. They succeeded so well that the world 
owes to them a great improvement in the use of oil 
color. Their method enabled them to give to their 
colors a richness and luster unknown before, and it also 
prevented the colors from changing with age. It is no 
wonder that the Venetian artists were excited when 
Antonello of Messina went to Venice, and revealed to 
them the precious secret he had learned from the Flem- 
ish painters. 

The noblest work of the early Flemish school of 
painters, and the one which best shows the character- 
istics of the paintings of the Van Eycks, is an altarpiece 
at Ghent, called the Lamb of Grod, or the Altarpiece of 
St. Bavon. It was executed for Judocus Vyts and his 
wife, for the decoration of their funeral chapel in the 
Church of St. Bavon. This work was planned by 
Hubert Van Eyck, the older brother, and was finished 
by Jan Van Eyck. 



118 SKETCHES OE GREAT PAINTERS. 

The altarpiece consisted of many panels or wings, 
and it was inclosed by decorated shutters. The upper 
portion was made up of seven panels. In the center was 
a seated figure representing God the Father in the robes 
of a high priest. On the panels at the right were 
painted the Virgin, singing angels, and Adam ; at the 
'eft were painted, in corresponding positions, St. John, 
St. Cecilia, and Eve. In the lower portion was a large 
central panel, representing the Adoration of the Lamb 
as described in the Book of Revelation. On the panels 
at the right and left of this were represented hermits, 
knights, crusaders, and the righteous judges on their 
way to the Holy City. Among the judges are por- 
traits of the two painters on horseback. Charlemagne, 
St. George, and Godefroy de Bouillon appear among 
the crusaders. On the shutters are panels represent- 
ing the Angel of the Annunciation, the Virgin, St. 
John the Baptist, St. John the Evangelist, and masterly 
portraits of Judocus Vyts and his wife. 

Hubert's share in this great work was the concep- 
tion of the whole altarpiece and the painting of the 
upper series of panels. This much is usually attrib- 
uted to him, but there is doubt as to his share in the 
rest of the work. There is a dignity and a grandeur in 
all his conceptions, and they show a mingling of both 
Flemish and Byzantine elements. 

When Hubert died, in 1420, Jan followed out the 
plans his brother had made, but he imprinted on his 
work his individual character. His painting has not 
the strength and power of Hubert's, but he was able to 
give to his figures more of life and reality. He de- 
lighted in rich settings, and in representing figures in 



HUBERT AND JAN VAN EYCK. 119 

the open air, with flowery meadows and blue distances. 
For this reason, he has sometimes been called the father 
of modern landscape painting. 

The most important panel painted by Jan Van Eyck, 
the Adoration of the Lamb, represents the mystic re- 
demption of the world by the blood of Christ. The 
scene is laid in a meadow bright with spring flowers. 
In the foreground is the fountain of life, from which a 
stream flows forth to purify the world. An altar draped 
with purple holds the center of the picture, and on it is 
a white lamb, with blood flowing from its riven side. 
Around the altar stands a group of angels, bearing the 
instruments of Christ's passion, — the pillar, the cross, 
and the crown of thorns. 

At the right and near the fountain, the twelve apos- 
tles are kneeling in a group ; and standing round 
about are the true servants of the cross, — priests, 
bishops, and popes. These are magnificently attired 
in the rich purple-red of Van Eyck, with ornaments of 
gold wrought with precious stones. They are all 
beardless, and their calm faces are not turned toward 
the lamb ; they seem, rather, to rest in an attitude of 
adoration, secure in their faith. At the left of the 
fountain is a group of twelve prophets, reading from 
books. Behind them stand men who represent the vari- 
ous attitudes of mankind toward Christianity. All sorts 
of men are gathered there, pagans, philosophers, the 
poets of antiquity, and citizens of Ghent in Van Eyck's 
time. Those in doubt still hesitate and hold back, 
while those who have denied are amazed and per- 
plexed. Emerging from the orange groves at the left, 
beyond the lamb, is a group of martyrs \ and on the 



120 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

right are holy women crowned with roses and bearing 
palms. Beyond are the somber hills and spires of the 
celestial city, outlined against a serene sky, in harmony 
with the scene ; and from the dove that hovers above 
the lamb a radiance descends upon all. 

A description of the picture cannot give an idea of 
the spirit of holiness that breathes from it, or of the 
delicacy and richness of color, or of the marvelous skill 
shown in the painting of the minutest details. 

This altarpiece had many vicissitudes. In 1556 it 
narrowly escaped destruction by the Protestants ; in 
1641 it was nearly destroyed by fire ; and Joseph of Aus- 
tria caused the shutters before it to be closed for some 
time, because he objected to the undraped figures in 
Adam and Eve. In the time of Napoleon it was sent 
to the Louvre, but it was returned to Ghent when 
peace was declared. The panels, however, instead of 
being joined to the central portions, were hid in a cellar. 
They were found by a priest and sold, and were finally 
placed in the Museum at Berlin. The panels of Adam 
and Eve, which were not discovered until later, were 
sent to Brussels. 

Little is known of the life of Hubert Van Eyck, to 
whom the world owes the conception of this master- 
piece. He was born in the little town of Maaseyck, in 
1366. He lived in Bruges and Ghent, and, though the 
times were stormy, his works reflected only peace and 
tranquillity. He went to Ghent in 1420, and began the 
altarpiece of St. Bavon. Six years afterward he died, 
leaving the work for his brother to finish. He was 
buried by his patron, Judocus Vyts, with great pomp, 
in the vault of the chapel of St. Bavon. Over his 




!'; -; 




Hubert van Eyck. 

St. Cecilia. 

121 



122 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

tomb is a quaint inscription, written by himself, in which 
he warns every one that death awaits all mankind, and 
begs all lovers of art to pray that he may enter heaven. 

Of Jan Van Eyck a few facts are recorded. He was 
born twenty-four years after his brother, in the same 
town. He entered the service of the Bishop of Liege, 
and at his death he became the friend and companion 
of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. In his position 
as painter to the duke he received a liberal salary and 
had courtly attendants. He was often sent on mis- 
sions, the objects of which are now unknown. In 1-128 
he went to Portugal with an embassy, in order to paint 
the portrait of Isabel of Portugal, whom the duke 
wished to marry. The mission came to a happy issue, 
and, when Philip married the princess, the painter was 
rewarded liberally for his work, and for his " secret 
service." Before returning to Bruges, Jan Van Eyck 
traveled through Spain and Portugal, where he saw 
far different scenes and people from those found in his 
own peculiar country, and his new experiences had an 
influence on some of his later works. 

Two of his pictures are now at Madrid. One is 
called the Virgin Reading. There is rare charm in the 
picture ; the hush of the room, the warmth of the fire, 
and the perfume of the lilies seem real to the senses, 
while we look at the sweet, calm woman. The other 
work at Madrid, an altarpiece called the Triumph of 
the Catholic Church, fully represents the characteristics 
of early Flemish art. It is interesting, also, because it 
contains portraits of the two painters, in the two figures 
who are watching the overthrow of the Jewish Church 
and the triumph of the Christian. 



HUBERT AND JAN VAN EYCK. 123 

After his return to Bruges, Jan Van Eyck married, 
and when his little daughter was born, Philip the Good 
showed his friendship and his appreciation of the 
painter's work by standing as godfather to the child, 
and by giving her six silver cups. The friendly 
intercourse between the artist and his patron continued 
throughout their lives. Philip watched the progress 
of Van Eyck's work with interest ; he often visited his 
studio, and won the admiration of the apprentices by 
emptying his purse for their benefit. 

Among the other important pictures by Jan Van 
Eyck are a Madonna, ordered by the Canon Van der 
Pala ; a head of Christ, interesting as one of the first 
pictures painted with oil colors mixed according to his 
new process ; and the portraits of Jean Arnolfini and 
his wife, especially notable for their color and light, 
and the minuteness and skill of the execution. 

Jan Van Eyck died in 1440. The influence of his 
work was great throughout Belgium. A number of 
strong painters followed him, the greatest being his 
pupil, Hans Mending, whose works have unusual 
power to touch and charm. 



X. RUBENS. 

1577-1640. 

After the great awakening of the artistic spirit in 
Flanders, a number of painters followed in the footsteps 
of the first masters. After a time, however, artists 
began to borrow so much from Italian art that distinc- 
tively Flemish art ceased to exist. 

At Siegen, in Westphalia, on the feast day of St. Peter 
and St. Paul, a child was born in 1577. His parents 
were then in exile, for the father, John Rubens, a phy- 
sician of Antwerp, was suspected of being a Protestant 
and had been obliged to flee from his home. The little 
exile received the names of the two saints honored on 
his birthday, and was called Peter Paul Rubens. To 
him belongs the glory of raising Flemish art again to a 
high position. 

The first years of Rubens's childhood were spent at 
Siegen and Cologne. After his father's death, which 
occurred when the boy was about nine years old, his 
mother took him back to Antwerp and placed him 
in a Jesuit school. Thus he was brought up as a 
Catholic, and this fact influenced his career as an artist, 
for the Protestant and the Catholic art of the ]tf orth were 
widely different. His mother intended to educate him 
as a lawyer ; but his decided love for art induced her 
to allow him to follow his own wishes. When he began 
to study art, everything was in his favor. He had re- 
124 



RUBENS. 125 

ceived an excellent education, and the varied experi- 
ences of his youth helped to make him unusually 
mature and intelligent. 

After spending a few years in preparatory study, 
Rubens was admitted to the guild of painters at Antwerp, 
and his career as a painter began. A picture called the 
Trinity, in the Museum at Antwerp, is an example of his 
work before his Flemish education was supplemented 
by a journey to Italy. 

With what happy anticipations the young artist must 
have set out for Italy in the year 1600! The treasure 
house of the world was to be opened to him in that land 
of which he had so often dreamed. What wonder that 
he, with his love for sumptuous splendor, should have 
been most charmed and influenced by the Venetians, 
and above all by Veronese! Indeed, he is sometimes 
called the "Veronese of the North." 

When Rubens went to Italy, he carried with him 
letters of recommendation from the Archduke Albert 
of Flanders to the Duke of Mantua. He was well 
received by the duke, and he entered his service. 
During his stay at Mantua he studied the works of 
Guido Reni, one of the followers of Raphael, and he 
was much influenced by them. He received orders for 
a number of pictures, and after he had painted them, 
he went to Rome to copy some of the famous pictures 
there. 

Five years after his departure for Italy, Rubens 
began his diplomatic career. His personal beauty, the 
charm of his manners, and the unusual brilliance and 
cultivation of his mind made him especially fitted to 
undertake work of this nature. To a man of his 



126 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

character, such experiences were most valuable. He 
was not flattered by princes, or spoiled by honors; but 
he enlarged his knowledge of men by coming in contact 
with varied scenes and many phases of life. While he 
was at Rome, busily engaged in copying a great picture, 
the Duke of Mantua recalled him, in order to send him 
on a diplomatic mission to Spain. After fulfilling his 
task with ability, he returned to Italy. 

An anecdote, told in connection with his life at court, 
shows how he never let his art take a second place in 
his heart. One day a courtier, seeing him painting, 
said, " Does the ambassador of his Catholic Majesty 
sometimes amuse himself with painting ? " Rubens re- 
plied, " He sometimes amuses himself with being an 
ambassador." 

Eight years had passed since Rubens left his home 
in Belgium, when he was suddenly called back on 
account of the serious illness of his mother. How 
different was this journey to Antwerp from his first 
journey over the same road! What weary days of 
painful foreboding lie must have experienced ! He 
reached Antwerp too late even to receive the last 
greetings of his mother, whom he dearly loved. A 
portrait of her, which he painted, reveals her strong, 
generous nature. 

Sad as was the home-coming, it was somewhat like a 
triumphal entry for Rubens. He had achieved marked 
distinction in Italian cities, so that Flemish art had 
received honored recognition in the land where the art 
of painting had reached the greatest perfection. The 
works that he brought back were not the studies of a 
student, but the mature creations of a master. His 



RUBENS. 127 

countrymen realized all this, and were proud to do him 
honor. The Archduke Albert appointed him court 
painter ; and he settled in Antwerp, purchasing for his 
home a handsome house with a charming studio ad- 
joining it. In 1609 he married Isabella Brant, who 
died in 1626, leaving two sons. 

During his wife's lifetime Rubens accomplished an 
immense amount of work, and some of his strongest 
pictures belong to this period. It is pleasant to think 
of him during those happy, prosperous days. Fortune 
seemed to smile on him, and his enjoyment of family, 
home, and friends, and his constant joy in his work, 
made the years bring forth a plentiful harvest. He 
lived a regular, industrious life ; and his working hours 
were often enlivened by friends who read to him poetry 
and history, the subjects in which he was most inter- 
ested. He could enjoy many literatures, for he read 
and spoke seven languages. 

Antwerp is sometimes called the city of Rubens, and 
justly so, for he adorned it with some of his best works. 
Many places in the city remind us of him. His statue 
is there, and so is his tomb, in the church of St. 
Jacques. Behind his tomb is a picture, called some- 
times the Holy Family of St. George, and sometimes 
the Family of Rubens. In it are represented Rubens 
himself, his father, his grandfather, his first wife, his 
second wife, and his sister-in-law, who was made 
famous by the picture called the Straw Hat. Rubens 
appears in the picture as St. George, dressed in armor, 
and crushing the dragon beneath his feet, while his 
youngest son is represented as a charming little angel. 
He represented, under a sacred title and with a loving 




The Straw Hat. 
128 



RUBENS. 129 

hand, whatever seemed noblest and best in those whom 
he most loved. It is a curious family document, and, 
considered as such, it has great beauty and worth ; 
but as a religious picture, looked at from the point of 
view of Italian art, it seems lacking in true sentiment. 
The St. George belongs to the last period of Rubens's 
work. Thirty-five } r ears, at least, separate this picture 
from his earliest work, the Trinity. 

It is to the Cathedral of Notre Dame, however, that 
we must go to see Rubens at his greatest, for two of his 
masterpieces are there. These were the first important 
works undertaken by him after his return from Italy, 
and they proclaimed him the chief of the Flemish 
school. The first of these is the Raising of the Cross, 
which was painted in 1610. It is not so well known 
or so generally admired as the Descent from the Cross, 
his second great painting in the cathedral, but it is a 
powerful work of marked originality. It is a triptych, 
that is, a picture with one central portion and two 
wings. The central panel represents one part in the 
tragedy of the Passion. The cross is being raised 
amidst cries and blasphemies ; and the effect is over- 
whelming, such is the power of the tumultuous move- 
ment and dramatic intensity in the picture. The left 
wing represents a group in attitudes of grief and de- 
spair, and the right shows only two mounted guards 
with merciless faces. 

The Descent from the Cross is one of the most remark- 
able pictures in the world. It forms the central panel 
of a vast triptych, having for its wings the Annuncia- 
tion and the Presentation. It was painted in 1612, for 
the company of Archers at Antwerp, who demanded a 



130 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

picture from Rubens as compensation for his having en- 
croached on their land when he built his house. The 
Archers asked him to paint a picture of their patron 
saint, St. Christopher (the Christ-bearer) ; but he gave 
them, instead, a painting that contained all those who 
had borne Christ in their arms. The design of the 
picture was not original with Rubens, for he followed 
the general plan of a work by an Italian painter, Daniele 
Volterra. The treatment of the subject, however, was 
entirely his own. 

This picture shows that it was produced by an artist 
with a brilliant, robust, and powerful mind ; that he 
could draw in a masterly way ; that he could manage 
color with the skill of his countrymen and the splendor 
of the Venetians ; and that he understood light and 
shadow, so that he could present his figures effectively 
and truly. The composition, or grouping of the fig- 
ures, is fine and strong ; the central light is superbly 
treated ; the masses of light and shadow are well 
placed ; the scene is full of dramatic power ; and the 
figures have a majesty and beauty suited to the great 
tragedy. 

From a distance, the picture is most impressive, with 
the figure of Christ seen in relief against the white 
winding-sheet, his bent head, touching " in the strange 
beauty of death." A nearer view reveals with what 
tender pathos and reverence the artist has rendered the 
grief of the group at the foot of the cross. The beau- 
tiful figure of the Magdalen, who kneels in the center 
foreground and helps to support the figure of Christ, 
adds an attractive element to the somber and tragic 
scene. One must look long among Rubens's pictures 



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131 



132 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

to find a more beautiful figure of a woman. It is 
probably a portrait of his first wife, Isabella Brant. 
The Descent from the Cross differs from the Raising of 
the Cross in that no cries, gesticulations, horrors, or vio- 
lent tears are represented ; but it is even more powerful 
in its dramatic effect. 

Among other religious pictures by Rubens are the 
Last Judgment and the noble triptych called the Virgin 
appearing to St. Ildefonso, the beautiful St. Cecilia, and 
Christ mounting to Calvary, which forms a prologue to 
the two great triptychs at Antwerp dealing with the 
subject of the Passion. A group of children represent- 
ing the Christ child, St. John, and two angels, and 
another group of seven children, bearing a festoon of 
fruit and flowers, are very charming, and reveal again 
Rubens's rare gift for painting the beautiful forms of 
children. 

From 1620 to 1625 Rubens was chiefly occupied 
with a colossal undertaking, — the decoration of a 
gallery in the Luxembourg Palace, at Paris. The 
commission was given to him by Marie de' Medici, who 
was then living at the palace, and the series illustrated 
scenes in the life of the queen. The artist seems to 
have brought down the gods and the goddesses from 
Olympus, so successful was he in presenting scenes of 
imposing grandeur. Certainly the}^ are magnificent 
enough to satisfy the vanity of the most ambitious 
sovereign. 

The queen ordered, also, a second series of decora- 
tions to illustrate scenes in the life of Henry IV. 
This series was never finished, on account of the exile 
of the queen. Rubens made the sketches for the first 



RUBENS. 133 

series in Paris, and then returned to Antwerp to exe- 
cute the work. In 1625, he went back to Paris, having 
painted the decorations. It remained for him to paint 
a portrait of the queen as Bellona, the goddess of war, 
and portraits of her father and mother. The pictures 
were then hung in the gallery for which they were 
intended, in the spaces between the eighteen windows. 
Amid the gorgeous surroundings of the palace, in a 
setting of deep, heavily ornamented gold frames, and 
divided from one another by windows, the pictures pre- 
sented an effect far different from that in the Louvre, 
where they were placed when the Luxembourg gallery 
was destroyed. In their present position, where they 
are seen to great disadvantage, they seem spectacular 
and florid, and some of the forms appear gross and 
coarse. 

For four years after the death of Isabella Brant, 
Rubens led an active, varied life, serving, as ambassador 
to The Hague, to Spain, and to England. He was 
knighted in the same year by Charles I. of England 
and by the Spanish king. King Charles honored him 
by giving him his own sword and a chain of gold. In 
1630, Rubens married Helena Fourment, a beautiful 
woman, whom he painted many times, as he did all the 
members of his family. One of the family portraits, 
representing the artist and his second wife in a garden, 
witli a little child in leading strings, is exceedingly 
charming. 

It is always interesting to study the portraits by a 
great master, and those of Rubens reveal both his 
greatness and his weakness. Sometimes they are dis- 
appointing, for he did not create a world of men and 



134 SKETCHES OF GEEAT PAINTERS. 

women, who, once seen, can never be forgotten. He 
seemed to repeat the same types, especially in the 
women he painted, and he did not always seek and 
find the hidden springs of character, and express their 
mysterious charm in his portraits. He was too often 
content to paint what the mirror shows, instead of 
striving like Titian, Leonardo, and Rembrandt to reveal 
the inner nature. His portrait of the Baron le Vicq, 
who obtained for him the commission from Marie cle' 
Medici, is one of his best, as is also an exquisitely 
beautiful portrait called A Woman of the Family of 
Boonen, perhaps the sister-in-law of Rubens, who also 
served as a model for the celebrated picture called the 
Straw Hat. 

Besides the pictures already mentioned, Rubens 
painted landscapes, animals, and mythological subjects. 
In his pictures on mythological subjects the types of 
figures are such as he saw about him, and they possess 
the sort of beauty that most appealed to him. They 
are large and sumptuous, and full of vigor ; but they 
are wholly earthly and lack the charm of the delicate 
and spirituelle, those elements which characterized the 
Italian conceptions. There is a splendid dash and 
power about them, and they win admiration for the 
marvelous workmanship, and have a radiance and fasci- 
nation that bespeak the hand of genius. 

Rubens's nature was happy and healthful, with excel- 
lent balance and repose. He enjoyed prosperity and 
honor, and he lived like a prince. His work is a re- 
flection of his character and his life, and his style is 
essentially Flemish, though he was influenced by the 
Italian masters. 




St. Cecilia. 



135 



136 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

The amount of painting done by Rubens was never 
equaled by any artist before him. His pictures are 
said to number between fifteen and eighteen hundred. 
In many of these, he was aided by his able assistants, to 
whom he showed the greatest kindness and a generous 
interest in their success. His last work was the Cruci- 
fixion of St. Peter. So little had his powers lessened, 
that this work is one of his best. 

For a number of years before his death, he was 
obliged to live quietly, for the gout prevented him from 
engaging in active life. He could still paint easel 
pictures, however, and he continued to work until a 
sudden illness, in 1640, brought his labors to an end. 



XL VAN DYCK. 

1599-1639. 

Oftentimes in tlie evening after a long day's work, 
Rubens mounted his horse and rode several hours for 
pleasure and refreshment. At such times his pupils 
entered his studio to see what he had painted during 
the day. One night, as they were gathering eagerly 
about an important picture, which stood on the mas- 
ter's easel, one of the students unfortunately brushed 
his sleeve against it while it was still moist. Conster- 
nation filled their hearts, and they were in doubt as to 
what ought to be done. At length they decided that 
the injury must be repaired, and they chose one of their 
number, Anthony Van Dyck, to do the work. He did 
it so well that when Rubens learned what had happened 
he made no comment. 

Anthony Van Dyck became the most famous of the 
pupils of Rubens. He was born at Antwerp in 1599. 
His father was a prosperous merchant, and was able to 
give his son a good education. At the age of sixteen 
Van Dyck entered Rubens's studio, and remained there 
four years. He was very precocious, and advanced so 
rapidly that before he was nineteen years old he was 
admitted to the guild of painters at Antwerp, which 
means that he was no longer merely a student, but that 
he was recognized as a painter. He still continued to 
act as Rubens's assistant, however, and he made some 
137 



138 



SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 



excellent copies of his master's works, which were in 
great demand. 

Among the first works of Van Dyck were two pictures 
in the parish church of Saventhem. One of these 




Van Dyck. 



The Children of Charles I. 



represents St. Martin on horseback. He is said to have 
been persuaded to paint this picture by a young Flem- 
ish woman, by whom he was so captivated for a time 
that he seemed to forget that it had been his intention 
to go to Italy. He lingered so long at Saventhem that 



VAN DYCK. 139 

Rubens at length wrote to him and urged him to carry 
out his plans. The picture of St. Martin has had a 
varied history. At one time the parish authorities 
attempted to sell it without the knowledge of the vil- 
lagers, who, when they heard of it, surrounded the 
church and would not permit its sale. It was carried 
away by the French in 1806, but not without resistance 
on the part of the people. In 1815 it was returned, 
and it is now in the parish church. 

Van Dyck took his master's advice and went to Italy, 
where he remained for five years. In Venice he 
devoted himself to the study of Titian and Giorgione, 
and copied many of their works. He stayed some time 
in Genoa and painted a number of strong portraits there. 
He was warmly welcomed because he was a pupil of 
Rubens, whom the Genoese admired, and he spent 
many happy days in the city. He enjoyed particularly 
the society of a woman, then old and blind, who had 
been, in her youth, a famous portrait painter. He often 
said that he owed more to the conversations of this 
Sofonisba Angosciola than to the teaching of the schools. 

At Rome he remained two years, but he did not find 
pleasure in the society of the Flemish artists there ; so, 
after painting for the Cardinal Bentivoglio an Entomb- 
ment and a portrait of the cardinal, he went to Palermo. 
From that city he was driven away by the plague, and 
finally returned to Antwerp in 1628. 

Van Dyck's Italian successes had made his country- 
men proud of him, and on his return to his native town 
he was given an order for a picture of St. Augustine in 
Ecstasy, for the church of this saint. This picture, 
which was considered one of his finest, he was obliged 



140 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

to change to suit the brotherhood, and the effect of the 
coloring was impaired. The influence of his Italian 
studies was shown in the works painted soon after his 
return, especially in the color, which was rich and glow- 
ing like that of the Venetians. Later, in England, his 
coloring became more silvery, but none the less harmo- 
nious and beautiful. Some interesting portraits belong 
to this period. Among them is a masterly work called 
the Syndic Meerstraten. 

It was soon after his return from Italy that Van 
D} r ck met Frans Hals, the distinguished Dutch portrait 
painter. He called on the artist, but found that he 
was, as usual, at a tavern. He sent word to him 
that a stranger wished to have his portrait painted. 
When Frans Hals appeared, Van Dyck told him that 
he could have but two hours for his work. At the end 
of that time the sitter expressed his approval of the 
portrait, saying that portrait painting seemed a very 
simple thing. Then he asked Frans Hals to change 
places with him. When the Dutch painter saw Van 
Dyck's work, he embraced him and cried, " You are 
Vun Dyck ! No one but he could have done it." 

In 1630 Van Dyck went to England, where he had 
visited ten years before. At that time he had received 
a number of commissions from James I.; and as he had 
luxurious tastes, and needed more money to gratify 
them than he could earn in Flanders, he decided to try 
his fortune once more in England. His hopes were 
disappointed, however, and he soon returned to Ant- 
werp. Afterward Charles I. saw a portrait of his 
chapel master that Van Dyck had painted, and invited 
the artist to England. Thither he went, in 1632, and 



VAN DYCK. 141 

became the court painter. Then his clays of prosperity 
and honor began. He was knighted in a year after his 
arrival, and the pension he received enabled him to 
live like a prince, both in town and in the country. He 




Van Dyck. 

GervArtius. 



entertained in a royal manner the distinguished men 
of the court, and a visit to his studio was a part of a 
fashionable person's programme. 

Commissions from the highest and noblest in the 



142 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

land came to the gracious and talented painter. Many- 
portraits painted at this time are found to-day in 
the fine ancestral halls for which they were painted ; 
and Van Dyck's portraits are never seen to greater 
advantage than amid such surroundings. Hazlitt, the 
essayist, wrote of the portrait of Lady Venetia at 
Windsor Castle, " To perform an unbecoming action 
with that portrait in the room would be next to impos- 
sible." This is true of many of his portraits. There 
is an air of elegance and refinement in them all, and the 
artist imparted to them such highborn grace, such 
dignity, and distinguished bearing, that he was an ideal 
painter of kings, queens, and courtiers. 

Van Dyck painted King Charles I.'s sad and hand- 
some face a number of times. At the Louvre, he is 
represented as standing beneath a tree. Behind him 
are a courtier and a page with his horse, and in the back- 
ground is a landscape with a glimpse of the sea. It is 
fine in character, beautiful in color, and full of pic- 
turesqueness and charm. At the Pitti Palace are the 
beautiful portraits of King Charles and Henrietta 
Maria. Not less interesting than the portraits of the 
king and queen are those of their three children, who 
became afterward James II., Charles II., and Mary, 
wife of William of Orange. He knew also how to 
make youth attractive, as the distinguished portrait of 
Prince Rupert of the Rhine shows. At the Pitti 
Palace and at Munich are portraits of himself ; and at 
Madrid is a picture representing him with the Count 
of Bristol. 

One of his greatest works is a portrait called Ger- 
vartius. It is really a portrait of a friend of Rubens, 



VAN DYCK. 143 

named Van der Geest, a man of great cultivation of 
mind and a lover of art. The face is so high-bred, and 
so full of life and reality, that it seems to bespeak a 
character capable of fine emotions and delicate ap- 
preciation; and the head is so picturesque, and the 
color and drawing are so masterly, that the picture is 
wonderfully impressive and interesting. It entitles 
Van Dyck to a rank among the greatest masters of 
portraiture. Though the pupil owed much to his mas- 
ter, Rubens, yet in the matter of portraiture Van Dyck 
surpassed Rubens. He had the delicate perceptions, 
the penetrating eye, and the sensitiveness to individual 
qualities that are among the distinctive characteristics 
of a great portrait painter. 

Although Van Dyck was constantly employed in 
painting portraits, he also painted many religious pic- 
tures. The Holy Family and the Repose in Egypt give 
an idea of the spirit of his religious paintings, and of 
the type of his Madonnas, among which the most cele- 
brated are the Madonna and Donors, and the Madonna 
with the Partridges. 

All his life Van Dyck longed to undertake some 
great decorative work, but the opportunity never came 
to him. While in England, lie tried to get a com- 
mission for the decoration of the banqueting hall in 
the royal palace of Whitehall, but he was not success- 
ful. In 1640 he went to Paris, hoping to obtain a 
commission for the decoration of a salon in the Louvre, 
but the order was given to the French painter, Nicolas 
Poussin. 

Disappointed at Paris, Van Dyck returned to Eng- 
land. But affairs there were in an unhappy condition ; 




144 



VAN DYCK. 145 

civil war had begun, and the royal family were scattered. 
His own health was undermined by a life of gayety and 
luxury, and he became ill. The king, returning from 
Scotland, promised his physician a goodly sum if he 
could preserve his favorite's life ; but it was impossi- 
ble, and Van Dyck died in London when he was but 
forty-two years old. He was buried in Old St. Paul's, 
near the tomb of John of Gaunt. 

Van Dyck, brilliant and charming as he was, did not 
live a very noble life ; nor did he leave to his children, 
as Rubens did, with his great fortune, the goodly heri- 
tage of an unblemished reputation. He had a restless 
spirit, and he went from one dissipation to another, and 
thus cut short his life. Late in his career he married 
a lady of high birth, but the union brought him little 
satisfaction. Notwithstanding his faults and weak- 
nesses, Van Dyck was always faithful and conscientious 
in his art, and he accomplished a vast amount of work 
for so short a career. Its influence was great, not only 
in his own country, but in England, where he labored 
so many years. 



XII. RUISDAEL. 

1625-1681. 

Dutch art did not begin to develop a character of 
its own until Holland became independent of Belgium 
in the beginning of the seventeenth century. Before 
then, Dutch artists followed the teachings of the Flem- 
ish masters ; but the birthday of the nation was also 
the birthday of its art, which rapidly developed in a 
striking and original way. As Holland was a republic 
and the people were Protestants, there were no splendid 
churches or stately palaces for artists to decorate ; 
and as the people no longer believed in the legends and 
traditions that formed the subjects of a large part of 
the pictures of other lands, many of the Dutch artists 
naturally devoted themselves to painting portraits and 
landscapes. 

No more charming impression of Holland, the Venice 
of the North, can be found than that given by her land- 
scape painters. Among these the greatest was Jacob 
van Ruisdael. He was born at Haarlem in 1625, and 
belonged to a family of painters. He began the study 
of medicine, but his artistic nature impelled him to de- 
vote himself to painting. His talent developed rapidly, 
and paintings executed when he was seventeen or eigh- 
teen years old show how advanced he was for his age. 

Ruisdael's early works were chiefly views of his 
native town, and again and again he returned to the 
146 



RUISDAEL. 147 

same subject. Often he painted a road winding across 
the country, and often trees were the central point of 
interest. He liked to seat himself on some neighbor- 
ing slope, for he knew how delightful it is to look off 
and see the distant spires of a town, conscious that afar 
its great heart is throbbing with life, though all seems 
so still. At such times the vastness of nature and life 
overawe the soul. Such are the feelings excited, by 
these pictures by Ruisdael. 

The clump of trees that figure in the Thicket was 
often painted by Ruisdael. This picture seems to in- 
crease in beauty as one grows familiar with it. The 
exquisite effect of trees against the sky, and of a line of 
light on a field, the beauty of shadows, and the variety 
and depth of foliage are among its charming qualities. 

The Ray of Sunshine is a work full of poetry. The 
landscape is composed of picturesque elements. The 
eye passes with interest from the group in the fore- 
ground, where a horseman gives alms to a beggar, 
across an arched bridge spanning a stream, and gets a 
view of ruins, a windmill, a village church, and some 
bathers. On, on, the eye follows, up to the top of a 
hill crowned with a chateau ; nor does the interest end 
there, for the clouds above are superb, as they roll 
away from the hilltop. Here are the solid earth, the 
clouds, and the sky of Holland. From a rift in a cloud, 
a ray of sunshine falls upon a field in the middle dis- 
tance and illumines it, hence the name of the picture. 
In such pictures as this Ruisdael expressed the charac- 
teristic traits of his country, its quiet melancholy, and 
its monotonous and tranquil charm. 

So little is known of Ruisdael's life, that not much 



RUISDAEL. 149 

about him can be stated with authority. It is supposed 
that he visited Norway, because he painted as many as 
seventy-five pictures of that country. They were 
painted when his powers were mature, but they are 
not his best works. One of the finest of them is the 
Oascale. At Haarlem his life was one of hardship, 
for he was unknown and unappreciated. At length he 
decided to leave his native town and go to Amsterdam, 
where there were feAver artists in proportion to the 
population, and more wealth. In 1659 he became a 
citizen of Amsterdam, and there he remained till just 
before his death. 

Ruisdael accepted all sorts of work at Amsterdam, in 
order to earn his living. For the rich men of the city 
he painted views of the town or country, containing 
pictures of their homes. Sometimes, also, he painted 
backgrounds for other artists. These were not con- 
genial tasks, and he returned with pleasure to painting 
the Haarlem road and other familiar scenes that he 
loved. The mysterious melancholy that was always in 
his work became more apparent as time went on, and 
this helped to keep his pictures from being popular. 
Unfortunately for his worldly success, his work was too 
serious and original to be understood, and he had no 
better fortune at Amsterdam than at Haarlem. His 
pictures brought him very small sums, and it grew 
harder and harder for him to make a living. 

Ruisdael labored on, notwithstanding many discour- 
agements. He had other burdens beside his own to 
carry, for he took upon himself the responsibility of his 
father's debts, which plunged him into great difficulties. 
It is delightful, however, to find that his fellow-artists 



150 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

loved and honored him, and that he numbered among 
his friends the best painters of the day. Some of them 
supplied the figures in his pictures, for he rarely at- 
tempted figure painting. 

Besides painting pictures full of the peaceful charm 
of the landscapes near his native town, Ruisdael knew 
how to express the tragedy of nature. The sea on the 
coast of Holland is a threatening foe to the people, who 
spend many anxious nights awaiting its will, when the 
wind and waves are high. In his Marines, the bat- 
tling elements, the waves dashing against the shore, 
and the ships struggling with the storm are represented 
with a true appreciation of their awful beauty. His 
pictures of scenes along the coast and riversides, show- 
ing dunes, windmills, fishing boats and ships, are also 
interesting. There is a remarkable picture called a 
View of a River, with a great, picturesque windmill, a 
gently flowing river, and a beautiful, cloudy sky, all 
rendered with poetic feeling, and by means of somber 
but most harmonious tones. 

It was in his pictures of forests that Ruisdaers power 
was at its greatest. The Hunt, one of his most famous 
works, represents a stag hunt in a woodland scene of 
unusual beauty. The tall, graceful birch trees, the 
water with its exquisite reflections, and the deep forest 
shade and silence are painted with great power. His 
masterpiece is the Wood. The theme is a simple one 
and the picture is a faithful portrait of nature, but a 
portrait by a poet whose soul was filled with impres- 
sions of the rarest beauty. 

The Jewish Cemetery and the 3Ionastery show how, 
as years went on, the grim struggle of life was reflected 




A p- 




151 



152 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

in the artist's work. The desolate monastery overlooks 
a shadowy river, and gives the impression of dreariness 
and solitude. Of the Jewish Cemetery, a French critic 
writes : " Three or four tombs, composed of large stones, 
hewn in rough and simple style, lie scattered in disorder 
at the foot of a great elm tree. The unequal and stony 
soil, rarely pressed by the foot of man, is covered with 
grass and wild plants. In the background is seen a 
mass of trees surmounted by the spire of a church. 
The sky is dark ; but a splendid and glowing sunbeam 
breaks between two clouds and falls upon this field of 
death. The scene might be designated Life and Death, 
but the splendor of this light has in it something wan 
and cold, which it is impossible to define." 

The Jewish Cemetery was one of Ruisdael's last works. 
A weary period, when he could not paint because of 
illness, and when he suffered from want, made his last 
days full of misery. At length some members of the 
religious sect to which his family belonged took com- 
passion on him and provided a place for him in a hos- 
pital in his native town. There he died in 1681. 

Ruisdael's pictures number over four hundred. Many 
of them are in private collections in England, and many 
are found in the great European galleries. They are 
so full of the poetry of the earth, the sea, and the sky 
that the great school of landscape painters of France 
found inspiration in them. 



XIII. REMBRANDT. 

1006-1669. 

The greatest of the Dutch painters was Rembrandt 
van Rijn. He was born at a happy time in the history 
of Holland, when her independence was established and 
her days of prosperity had begun. He was the fifth 
child of a well-to-do shoemaker of Leyden, who decided 
to give him, since he seemed bright and intelligent, as 
good an education as the country could afford. He 
was sent to the Latin school to prepare for the Leyden 
Academy ; for, like Rubens, his parents destined him 
for the law. It was soon evident that he was not inter- 
ested in his studies, and, as he showed a decided talent 
for drawing, his father apprenticed him to a painter. 
He studied under several masters, and while he was at 
Amsterdam, he had an opportunity to see and study the 
works of the early Dutch artists, who helped to make 
the greatness of the school. 

When his apprenticeship was over, Rembrandt re- 
turned to his native village. There, in quiet, he studied 
perseveringly and profoundly the art problems that most 
interested him. Nature was his teacher, and she re- 
ceived him into her favor ; for she revealed to him 
more of the secrets of the play of light, and the 
mysterious envelopment of objects with atmosphere, 
than she had ever revealed to any painter before him. 
153 



154 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

Titian was a magician ; Correggio was a sprite, a fairy, 
weaving golden meshes of sunshine; but Rembrandt 
was a wizard, who could express those lights and 
shadows, those tender and delicate gradations, which 
seem almost inexpressible. 

While Rembrandt was at Leyden, studying at his 
own home, he often received visits from artists and 
amateurs, who were attracted by the striking and orig- 
inal qualities of his work. A story is told in connection 
with the sale of one of his first pictures. A group of 
art lovers had seen the work, and persuaded Rembrandt 
to take it to a citizen of The Hague and try to sell it to 
him. He succeeded in selling it for a hundred florins, 
or about forty dollars. The thought of the satisfaction 
his parents would feel at his success made him anxious 
to reach home as soon as possible. He therefore took a 
place in a carriage which was going to Leyden. At a 
certain inn the carriage stopped, and all the occupants 
save Rembrandt descended to get refreshments. The 
young painter, however, did not dare to leave his bag 
of money. Suddenly the horses started, and despite 
the cries of the driver they rushed on, nor did they 
stop until they reached the end of the route at Leyden. 
Then Rembrandt got out of the carriage, and proudly 
took the florins home, a little richer for having had his 
ride for nothing. 

Four j^ears after Rembrandt's return to Leyden, he 
painted his first important picture, St. Paul in Prison. 
It is fitting that his first work should have been upon a 
sacred theme, for throughout his life the Bible was his 
greatest source of inspiration. A number of religious 
pictures followed the St. Paul, all painted in a some- 



REMBRANDT. 155 

what similar spirit, the spirit of the Protestant art of 
the North. These works show that the artist sought to 
represent the stories of the Bible with the familiarity 
and reality with which he thought of them. This is 
the secret of their force and of their power to touch us 
like life itself. His art was a new art. He was bound 
by none of the traditions of the Roman Church, and his 
pictures were founded on the Scriptures themselves, in- 
stead of on the legends of the Madonna and the saints, 
that formed the basis of many of the Italian pictures. 

Rembrandt went occasionally to Amsterdam to fulfill 
commissions ; and in 1630 he went there to live, and 
remained in this city for the rest of his life. Then 
was the golden age of art at Amsterdam, for within half 
a century her greatest artists lived. It is surprising to 
find that, though the country was in perpetual conflict, 
the painters of the day generally represented peaceful 
scenes of home life. The works of these men, who are 
called genre painters, are small, often not more than a 
foot square, yet they are exquisite in finish, and the 
colors are rich, warm, and harmonious. The homeliest 
interior or scene, under their touch, became full of 
the charm of light, color, and life. Many of the Dutch 
painters confined themselves to such subjects ; but 
Rembrandt's genius was a many-sided one, and his 
work summed up what was greatest in the Dutch 
school. 

Soon after going to Amsterdam to live, Rembrandt 
painted the Presentation, and a Holy Family. These 
are full of touching sentiment. He also attempted, 
about this time, some pictures on mythological subjects ; 
but whenever he treated myths or poetic legends, he 



156 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

showed a lack of style and taste that made the pictures 
unattractive. 

It was the custom of the guild of surgeons at Amster- 
dam to have the walls of its rooms adorned with por- 
traits of the doctors who had lectured there. In 1632, 
Rembrandt painted the celebrated Lesson in Anatomy, 
at the order of Dr. Tulp, in memory of his teaching at 
the guild. It represents the learned doctor in the act 
of dissecting a dead body, and lecturing upon it to a 
group of doctors gathered about him. This work marks 
a stage in the artist's progress, and it is interesting to 
compare it with his more masterly picture, the Syndics, 
painted in the latter part of his life. The Lesson in 
Anatomy added so much to Rembrandt's fame that he 
received many orders for portraits. In 1631 he had 
painted only two portraits of people outside of his im- 
mediate connection ; in 1632 lie painted more than 
ten; and from 1632 to 1631 he painted not less than 
forty. 

Among the pictures painted by Rembrandt during 
the two years after he finished the Lesson in Anatomy, 
is one representing a woman whose delicate face is full 
of sweetness and vivacity. The original was Saskia 
Uilenburg, a rich and highborn lady of Friesland, 
whom Rembrandt married in 1631. The eight years of 
their married life were happy ones, and during them 
Rembrandt produced many and varied works. In the 
Old and New Testament he continued to find inspiring 
themes, and he painted a number of pictures on sacred 
subjects during this period. Among these are the 
Story of Joseph, the Story of Tobias, the Story of Samson, 
and five pictures dealing with Christ's Passion. At the 




Portrait of Himself. 



157 



158 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS 

Louvre there is a religious picture, sometimes called 
a Holy Family, which has been fittingly described as 
a " poetic and familiar glorification of work and 
maternity." 

Even more famous than the Lesson in Anatomy, is 
Rembrandt's Sortie of the Company of Frans Banning 
Cock, commonly called the Night Watch, painted in 1642. 
The popular name is incorrect, and the error arose from 
the somewhat exaggerated effects of light and shade in 
the picture, which seem produced by artificial light 
rather than by the sun. Some one has said, "It is 
neither the light of the sun, nor of the moon, nor does 
it come from torches ; it is rather the light from the 
genius of Rembrandt." The meaning of the picture is 
only vaguely understood, and it has caused many dis- 
cussions. It represents the sortie of the heroes who 
helped to save Holland from the Spanish yoke. What 
the company are about to do is uncertain. The general 
disorder and the cock hanging at the belt of a young 
girl in the background might lead one to suppose that 
there was to be a shooting match, for which the prize 
was to be the cock. 

Such compositions as the Night Watch played an im- 
portant part in the history of Dutch art. In the 
Museum at The Hague and at Haarlem are several pic- 
tures of this character. They represent reunions — 
rarely of an august character — of officers or soldiers, 
sometimes at a banquet, as in the pictures by Frans 
Hals, or preparing for a parade. These pictures were 
exhibited in the halls of reunion of the corporation of 
Archers and other guilds. They were often paid for 
by those whose portraits were painted on the canvas ; 



KEMBRANDT. 159 

and all these men desired to be equally prominent and 
painted in the same light. 

It was difficult for a painter to obtain variety and 
interest with such a problem before him, but no 
artist, until Rembrandt painted the Night Watch, 
had tried to depart from the usual conditions. The 
picture did not meet with flattering success, and the 
members of the corporation were displeased with their 
portraits. After the Lesson in Anatomy was finished, 
Dr. Tulp and two other doctors sat again for their 
portraits ; but none of the men represented in the Night 
Watch gave commissions to Rembrandt. One, at least, 
had his portrait painted by another artist. Thus, 
wonderful as the latter work was, it did not enhance 
Rembrandt's popularity, which was even then beginning 
to wane. The picture marks another stage in his 
development, but it is not his greatest work. 

In the same year that Rembrandt painted the Night 
Watch, his wife died. The years of his married life 
had been full of happiness, and between him and his 
wife existed the most perfect confidence. Several chil- 
dren were born to them, but only one, named Titus, 
survived his mother. 

After the death of Saskia, Rembrandt devoted him- 
self for a time to painting landscapes, rinding, perhaps, 
some solace for his grief in the somber melancholy of 
Northern nature. Among the most interesting of these 
are a Winter Effect, the Windmill, owned by Lord Lans- 
down, and the Storm. Rembrandt's first landscapes 
were like most of those painted at the time, in which 
many picturesque elements were brought together. 
But some of his countrymen had made a new departure 



160 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

in landscape art. They proved that a simple scene 
from nature, rendered with truth and feeling, might 
reveal as exquisite poetry as the more elaborate compo- 
sitions arranged by their predecessors. Rembrandt's 
later landscapes show that he felt the influence of these 
men, and had become a devoted student of nature. 

It was the human face and human life that most 
attracted Rembrandt. An important work of this pe- 
riod, the portrait of Elizabeth Bas, shows that he was 
not content to portray the sweet smile and kindly face 
of this beautiful old woman, but that he sought to make 
the picture express the depth and loveliness of her 
character. 

In no direction was Rembrandt's genius more re- 
markable than in portraiture. His development can be 
traced step by step, in the pictures and etchings of 
himself which he made year after year. They show 
him in his }''outh, in the happy years of his married life, 
and during the days of his troubles and misfortunes. 
There are over fifty of these works, representing him in 
varied lights, and with varied costumes. In all, there 
is shown the most subtle analysis of the modeling of 
the human countenance, and the most delicate grada- 
tions of color. On his face are written an infinite 
variety of human sentiments, the most profound and 
the most fleeting. Of these portraits, which are found 
in all the great European galleries, one of the finest is 
at Berlin. 

Rembrandt's portraits of Saskia, his wife, are also 
interesting. He loved to robe her in beautiful cos- 
tumes and adorn her with jewels. There is a fine 
picture containing portraits of the artist and his wife at 



EEMBEANDT. 161 

Dresden. The portraits of his mother are also strong 
and masterly works. 

In 1648 Rembrandt painted a sketch commemorating 
the Peace of Minister, but it was not a success, for he 
was rarely at his best in such subjects. He turned 
back to Biblical subjects once more, and some remark- 
able etchings and paintings of this nature belong to 
this time. The Good Samaritan, the Disciples at 
Emmaus, and Christ appearing to the Magdalen were 
painted then. 

At the Louvre, there are a number of pictures called 
the Disciples at Emmaus; but what a contrast Rem- 
brandt's work forms to the purely decorative pictures, 
such as those of Titian and Veronese ! The Christ of 
his picture is the Christ of the poor manger, of the 
modest home at Nazareth. He is seen in the midst of 
the humble and afflicted of this world, and He is come 
to give them comfort. All the mysterious sense of awe 
and dread that filled the hearts of the disciples as they 
recognized their Master, whom they knew to have been 
placed in the tomb, is expressed in the faces of these 
men. One looks with faith and adoration as the 
Master is revealed to him ; the other looks with ques- 
tioning eyes ; and the servant is filled with wonder to 
see such emotion on the faces of those whom he is serv- 
ing. The figure of Christ is surrounded by a mysterious 
radiance, which helps to render it deeply impressive, 
and it seems as though no picture could express more 
touchingly the sentiment of the scene, the wonder, the 
sense of mystery, and the strange joy in the hearts of 
the disciples. The light in the picture is treated with 
marvelous skill ; the figures and objects all seem to 



IP. 2 



SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 



emerge out of the shadow and then sink back into it 
again. 

Seven years after the death of Saskia, a young woman 
named Hendricka StoffeLs took charge of Rembrandt's 




The Disciples at Emmais. 



son Titus. From this time the painter had once more 
a home and a fireside. A fine portrait of her is at the 
Louvre, and there are other pictures of her, for she 
seemed always ready to aid Rembrandt in every way. 



REMBRANDT. 163 

There is a good deal of uncertainty about his life at 
this time, as at every other, but he is thought to have 
married Hendricka in 1656. 

For a number of years Rembrandt's money affairs 
had been getting into a complicated state. Many 
things had caused this. His property had lessened in 
value on account of troubles in the country. More- 
over, he disliked having anything to do with business, 
and was careless and improvident. Though his habits 
of life were simple and he always lived quietly, he spent 
money lavishly for the things that interested him. He 
had a large and valuable collection of rare pictures, rich 
stuffs, armor, and antiquities. The list of these things 
is interesting, as it throws some light on the tastes and 
character of a man of whom almost nothing is known. 
His love of the beautiful and rare led him into the 
Jewish quarters, where he bought many valuable 
things, and where he found many picturesque types 
that he introduced into his pictures. A celebrated 
work of his last years, the Jewish Fiancee, was probably 
inspired by these visits. 

His financial condition grew worse and worse, until 
he was so deeply in debt that his property fell into the 
hands of creditors, in 1654. When Saskia died, she 
left Rembrandt executor of her will, and by it he was 
entitled to use the interest on her property until he 
married again. She wished him to see that Titus was 
properly educated, but she left everything to her 
husband's care, believing in his honor and his sense 
of duty. When, however, the artist's money matters 
got into such a bad condition, Saskia's family began to 
look into his affairs, and demanded from him an inven- 



164 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

tory of his wife's property. He accepted as correct the 
sum they valued it at, and made over to his son the 
house in which he lived. 

At last his creditors declared him insolvent ; and in 
order to liquidate his debts, his valuable collection was 
sold for five hundred florins, an absurdly small sum, and 
he was left without a roof over his head. He took 
refuge in the Crown Imperial Inn, and lived there for 
some time on credit. This was not the end of his 
troubles, for there was a long, complicated lawsuit about 
his son's property, and to the end of his life his cred- 
itors pursued him. 

Notwithstanding his trials, Rembrandt remained 
serene, and showed no lack of courage. In 1656, the 
year of his financial ruin, he painted an important work 
for the guild of surgeons at Amsterdam. The picture 
was nearly destroyed by fire during the last century. 
In this same year he painted a strong picture, full of 
pathos and power, called Jacob blessing the Sons of 
Joseph. His portraits of himself at this time are inter- 
esting, and they show how life's hard struggle had left 
its marks on his face. 

The last years of Rembrandt's life were passed in the 
greatest obscurity. It is thought that after Hendricka's 
death, which must have been before 1661, he married a 
third time ; for a home and a fireside grew more and 
more necessary to him. One of his most perfect works 
belongs to his last years. This is the Syndics of the 
Cloth Hall. The painting was ordered by a corporation 
of cloth merchants for their place of reunion at Staal- 
hof, and each portrait in the picture is a masterly work. 

No man had been more falsely represented, before 




165 



166 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

the middle of this century, than Rembrandt. He was 
believed to be a man of low tastes and a miser. A 
picture was even painted, representing his death in the 
presence of his chests of silver, which he wished to let 
his dying eyes rest upon. Before the erection of the 
statue of Rembrandt at Amsterdam, in 1852, many 
researches were made, and the documents discovered 
threw new light on his life, and disproved many things 
of which he had been accused. 

It is strange that by his portraits of himself he left 
an unusual record of the changes in his countenance, 
and yet the story of his life is a sealed book. He is in- 
deed the " King of Shadows," as he has been called. In 
1669 he died. The greatest painter of Holland was so 
unknown and so little appreciated at the time that 
the only recognition of his death is found in a church 
register. 

Rubens and Rembrandt were alike in the multitude 
of the works they produced, and in their strong love 
of home and the fireside ; but how different were their 
aims ! How unlike also were their lives and their 
deaths ! Rubens sought to express the splendor of 
the surface of things ; but Rembrandt sought to 
penetrate the hidden founts of feeling and to express 
every sentiment of the human soul. The one lived in 
prosperity, honored and feted and appreciated to the 
end of his life ; the other lived in poverty and obscurity, 
and was so unappreciated that his death received only 
the barest notice. 



XIV. DURER. 

1471-1528. 

In the fifteenth century Germany was not a nation, 
and the petty princes were too much occupied in war- 
ring against one another to care much for art. Two 
cities, however, were free, and in them the spirit of 
liberty and progress was developed. To them Ger- 
many owes her greatest artists, for Nuremberg was 
the birthplace of Albrecht Diirer, and Augsberg, that 
of Hans Holbein. 

Great epochs bring forth great men ; and among 
the intellectual giants of the era of the discovery of 
America, the Reformation, and the invention of the 
printing press, was Albrecht Diirer, who, like the most 
celebrated Italian masters, was sculptor and architect, 
as well as painter. He was celebrated also as an en- 
graver and he wrote a work on geometry, one on fortifi- 
cations, and one on the proportions of the human body. 

Nuremberg is a quaint old town, with picturesque 
walls and houses, and in it are found interesting works 
by the earliest German artists. In 1455 a goldsmith 
from a little Hungarian village, after spending much 
time among the men of his own craft in the Netherlands, 
went to Nuremberg because of its fame for fine gold- 
smiths' work. He soon found employment ; then he 
married and settled in the town, and it was not long 
167 



168 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

before he became a master goldsmith. In 1471 his 
second son, Albrecht, was born. 

The young Albrecht was eager to learn, and his 
father had him well taught. Little German boys in 
the fifteenth century learned their lessons from a 
blackboard, instead of from printed books, which were 
very expensive in those days. Later he went to a free 
Latin school, and learned to write Latin. At length he 
entered his father's workshop and began to work at the 
trade of a goldsmith. At odd minutes he made draw- 
ings, one of which is now in the British Museum. It 
represents a woman witli an odd Burgundian cap on her 
head. There is an inscription on it written by some 
comrade, stating that Albrecht Diirer drew it for him, 
before he went to Wolgemut's to study painting. 
Wolgemut was the master to whom Durer's father 
apprenticed him, after finding out his desire to become 
a painter instead of a goldsmith. 

Durer's days of apprenticeship were filled with hard 
work, and he suffered much from the unkindness of his 
companions. Little is known about these years or the 
four following ones. When his apprenticeship was 
over, in 1190, his father sent him away ; and four 
years later he called him home again. In the mean- 
time he was going from town to town and from studio 
to studio. It is supposed that he went to Venice, 
but this is only guessed at from his works and from 
references in his writings. During these wandering 
years he painted a miniature, in tempera on parchment, 
of the child Jesus, a portrait of himself, also on parch- 
ment, besides a number of landscapes, and studies rep- 
resenting the picturesque places he saw on his travels. 



DURER. 169 

He copied details with the utmost faithfulness to nature, 
working in the spirit of modern landscape painters. 

When Purer returned to Nuremberg-, he married 
Agnes Frey, who brought him a fortune, but, according 
to his friend Pirkheimer, often caused her husband to 
suffer from her sharp tongue. 

During the eleven years after his return to Nurem- 
berg, Diirer painted a number of portraits, and de- 
signed and painted parts of several altarpieces, besides 
one of his few works not upon sacred subjects, 
Hercules fighting with the Stymphalian Birds. He 
painted several strong portraits of his father, who died 
in 1502. He also wrote an affectionate account of him, 
describing him as a God-fearing man who tried to bring 
up his children to love honor and goodness, and giving 
a picture of his home life, and of his mother, whom his 
father left to his care. He fulfilled this trust, and 
proved a loving son, caring for her till her death, 
twelve years later. 

Durer's portraits of himself represent him at the ages 
of thirteen, twenty-two, twenty-six, and twenty-nine. 
A portrait at Munich shows him as a man of fine 
presence, with brown hair falling over his shoulders, 
and his handsome hand just touching the fur collar 
opened at the throat. His gaze is frank and penetrat- 
ing, and his beautiful eyes show that his soul was great 
and noble. It is strange to find this same face appear- 
ing in his pictures of Christ. 

Two important religious pictures were painted by 
Diirer before 1505. The first of these, the Dresden 
altarpiece, was designed and in part executed by him, 
but he was assisted by his pupils. The second, his first 




Durer. 



Portrait of Himself. 



170 



DURER. 171 

large panel picture, is called the Adoration of the Magi, 
and presents a new type of Madonna, a simple Nurem- 
berg mother gazing with love and affection at the Child, 
while the richly robed Magi kneel in adoration before 
Him. 

In 1505 Diirer went to Italy, and for two happy years 
he enjoyed the Italian sunshine, and the friendship 
and appreciation of the artists at Venice, Padua, and 
Bologna. Fortunately his letters written at this time 
have been preserved, and they describe some of his im- 
pressions of the country. He met in Venice "many 
pleasant companions, so that it does one's heart good 
to be with them ; learned men and lute-players, pipers, 
connoisseurs in art, — all very noble-minded, upright, 
virtuous people, who bestow on me much honor and 
friendship. Here I am a gentleman, at home only a 
dependant. Oh, how I shall freeze after this sun- 
shine ! " What a story these few words tell ! Nurem- 
berg, with its high peaked roofs and its picturesque 
turrets, an inland town shut in by walls from all the 
world, was indeed a contrast to free, seaward-looking 
Venice, with her gay, vivacious life, and her sunshine. 
Yet, though without honor in his own country, and 
though Venice, that made life seem so delightful to 
him, wished later on to secure his services, his love for 
the gloomy town would not let him desert it. 

While in Venice Diirer received a number of com- 
missions, one of which was a panel for the German 
Trading House. This picture, the Feast of Rose Crar- 
lands, is a large composition containing many figures. 
In the center is Pope Julius II. receiving a garland 
from the Christ Child, who is held by the Madonna 



172 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

seated on a- throne. From the Virgin the Kaiser Max 
also receives a garland, while St. Dominic, the founder 
of the feast, and groups of men and women kneeling 
round about, are crowned with wreaths of roses by hosts 
of little angels. 

Jesus among the Doctors was painted about the same 
time. It is remarkable for the hands, which are painted 
with wonderful power. Diirer's skill in this direction 
is must notably shown in the drawing called the Pray- 
ing Hands; and it would be difficult to imagine a more 
complete expression of religious feeling than is found 
in these two hands, upraised in an attitude of devotion. 

Diirer was not only skillful in painting hands, but his 
treatment of hair was equally remarkable. He worked 
with the most minute care, even when he painted very 
rapidly. It is said that Titian's master, John Bellini, 
who appreciated Diirer and was most friendly to him, 
asked him one day what sort of brush he used in paint- 
ing hair. Diirer, thereupon, took up the first brush 
that he could reach, and with it painted a lock of a 
woman's hair in such a marvelous fashion that Bellini 
could hardly believe his eyes. Bellini was not the 
only Italian artist who felt the influence of the German 
master, for Titian and other young artists gained 
knowledge and inspiration from him. 

After his return to Nuremberg, in 1507, Diirer worked 
on uninterruptedly for five years. The first of three 
important pictures of this period is called the Martyr- 
dom of Ten Thousand Saints under King Sepor. Death 
is represented as coming to men in the crudest and most 
terrible forms, and the artist has shown great skill in 
painting the human figure. The second was the Coro- 



DURER. 173 

nation of the Virgin, painted for the Dominican church 
at Frankfort, by the order of a rich banker of the 
city. After making many sketches, Durer set to work 
to paint this picture with great enthusiasm. He painted 
every stroke himself, and he believed it would last five 
hundred years without changing. He hoped that it 
would add much to his reputation. Unfortunately it 
was destroyed by fire in 1674. 

The third and most important work was the Adora- 
tion of the Trinity. It was painted for an almshouse at 
Nuremberg, founded by two benevolent citizens. It 
is interesting to compare this picture with Raphael's 
Disputa, painted about the same time, as each is a 
glorification of the Catholic Church. In Diirer's work, 
the dove, emblem of the Holy Spirit, is surrounded by 
cherubs. Below is the Father, with angelic hosts on 
either hand. The Father presents his crucified Son to 
the assembled hosts, and all rejoice in the redemption 
of the world by the sacrifice of the Son. On the left 
are the martyrs, mostly women, bearing palms. Kneel- 
ing at the right are the heroes of the Old Testament, 
headed by John the Baptist, whose hands seem like 
those of the Praying Hands. Lower down, and kneel- 
ing on clouds, popes, kings, cardinals, and peasants, rep- 
resenting on either side the Church and the State, adore 
the Trinity. At the left a cardinal is turning to en- 
courage one of the founders of the almshouse, who is 
humbly kneeling at his side. A lovely landscape occu- 
pies the lower part of the picture, and at the right is 
Durer himself supporting a tablet, while just above him 
is the other founder, kneeling with his family. 

It was about this time that Durer received a gratify- 



174 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

ing commission from his own town of Nuremberg, that 
he so dearly loved. The council of the city ordered 
from him two portraits, one of Charlemagne and one of 
the Emperor Sigismund ; these are still in Nuremberg. 

Durer painted a number of Madonnas, but the most 
beautiful is the Madonna of the Pear. It shows clearly 
his manner of presenting the sacred story by means of 
the homeliest scenes ; and in such pictures the interest 
always centers round the mother's love for her Child. 

When the Emperor Maximilian went to Nuremberg 
in 1512, Durer was a man of sufficient importance to 
meet his Majesty. He was then living in an inter- 
esting old house, which is still standing; he had been 
elected a member of the Rath, and he had been honored 
by a commission from the council. Maximilian wished 
to have the events of his life illustrated, and all his 
deeds handed down to posterity in glowing colors. He 
gave Durer a commission for a part of the work, which 
consisted of two series of woodcuts, that occupied the 
artist a number of years. 

Nevertheless, he found time to paint several impor- 
tant pictures. Among these are Lueretia, the portrait 
of his master, Wolgemut, and the portrait of the em- 
peror. It was during a visit to Augsburg, in 1518, 
that Diirer made a chalk drawing from which he 
painted the latter portrait. While he was making the 
drawing, the emperor tried his hand at sketching ; but 
he was much disturbed because the charcoal constantly 
broke in his hand. He could not understand how 
Diirer could keep his intact, so he asked him how he 
did it. The painter replied, " Most noble Emperor, I 
do not wish you to become master over my kingdom of 



DURER. 175 

art, and do as well as I. Your Majesty has other and 
greater work to do." 

The German master was much gratified to receive 
from Raphael, in 1515, a gift of several drawings. One 
of them is a sketch in red chalk, now found in the 
collection of the Archduke Charles, at Vienna. Upon 
it is an inscription written by Diirer himself, to this 
effect, " 1515 ; Raphael of Urbino, who has been so 
highly esteemed by the Pope, drew these naked figures, 
and sent them to Albrecht Diirer in Nuremberg, to 
show him his hand." In return, he sent to Raphael 
a life-size portrait of himself, but the painting has 
disappeared. 

In 1520 Diirer and his wife went to the Netherlands, 
and visited Ghent, Brussels, and Antwerp. Again a year 
of change, bringing with it the enjoyment of hospitality, 
of appreciation and honor, came to him. Such f eastings, 
and gift-giving, and friendly intercourse as there was 
then ! With the power of being interested that belongs 
to the artistic nature, he was enthusiastic over every 
new experience, even over a whale that was cast ashore. 
His accounts of the journey describe minutely everything 
he saw, and the ovations he received wherever he went. 
His object in going to the Netherlands was to obtain 
from Charles V., the new emperor, a confirmation of 
his pension granted by Maximilian. He was summoned 
to the court of Margaret of Austria, regent of the 
Netherlands, and he presented to her some of his 
engravings ; but he did not enjoy the court favor 
very long. He also went to the court of Christian II., 
king of Denmark, and he painted a portrait of that 
sovereign. 



176 



SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 




St. John and St. Pktkr. 



When he returned 
to Nuremberg, Diirer 
was poor, so he tried 
to persuade the Town 
Council to treat him 
more generously. He 
reminded them that 
both Venice and Ant- 
werp had made liberal 
offers for his services, 
and showed them how 
little he had been able 
to save for his old age. 
But, if Diirer did not 
enjoy much of this 
world's goods, he was 
fortunate in his 
f r i e n d s, numbering 
among them Pirk- 
heimer, Luther, Eras- 
mus, and Melanch- 
thon, men in the very 
front ranks of the in- 
tellectual life of the 
time. 

The journey to the 
Netherlands gave Dii- 
rer new inspiration, 
and the eight years 
before his death were 
productive ones. He 
painted a number of 



DURER. 



177 



portraits, one of his 
stanch friend Pirk- 
heimer, the chief man 
in Nuremberg, and one 
of Melanchthon, the re- 
former. To these last 
years belong also two 
panels, called the Four 
Apostles. The idea of 
this work, which is one 
of his greatest, had been 
in his mind for some 
years, and he spent in- 
finite pains upon it, as 
he intended it for a 
gift to the town of 
Nuremberg. On one 
panel are represented 
St. John, thought to be 
a portrait of Melanch- 
thon, and St. Peter ; 
and on the other, St. 
Paul and St. Mark. 
These four figures are 
said to typify the four 
temperaments, the mel- 
ancholy, the phlegmatic, 
the choleric, and the 
sanguine. Under each 
panel he placed texts 
from the writings of the 
apostles, containing 

N 




St. Paul and St. Mark. 



178 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

warnings against spiritual foes, well suited to the 
troubled times. 

In Diirer's works are found manifold expressions of 
the German spirit. He had the inquiring mind, the 
faithfulness to the minutest details, and the love of the 
weird and fantastic, that are peculiar to the German 
mind. He had also a power of direct and dramatic 
expression, notably shown in his pictures dealing with 
the Passion, which is hardly equaled by any other 
artist. His own words reveal what he considered to 
be the purpose of art : "The use of the art of painting 
is in the service of the Church, to exhibit the sorrow of 
Christ, and also to preserve the likeness of men after 
death." 

Great as was Diirer's work as a painter, his engrav- 
ings and woodcuts made his name even more famous. 
The intellectual force of his mind, the nobility of his 
character, and the thoughts and feelings of the stirring 
times in which he lived, find expression in these 
works, so that they are foreshado wings of the Refor- 
mation. In his engravings, more than in his paint- 
ings, he expressed the poetic forest fancies that are a 
part of the fascination of German literature and art. 

Albrecht Diirer died at the age of fifty-seven, in his 
native town. He lived in a great age, when new worlds 
were being discovered, and when the human mind was 
going out into untrodden ways. He kept pace with the 
times, and though it is doubtful whether he ever left the 
Roman Church, he had many friends among the re- 
formers. He was a quiet, modest man, simple and 
unostentatious in his manner of living. Melanchthon 
said of him, after his death : " I grieve for Germany, 



DURER. 179 

deprived of such a man and such an artist. His least 
merit was his art." His friend Pirkheimer said in his 
funeral oration : " He united every virtue in his soul — 
genius, uprightness, purity, energy, prudence, gentle- 
ness, and piety. Surely Germany may be proud of one 
who was great as a man and as an artist." 



XV. HOLBEIN. 

1497-1543. 

Augsburg was one of the fortunate cities of Germany, 
for it enjoyed the wise rule of the Emperor Maximilian. 
The town had many advantages from a military point 
of view ; and as it was on the high road to the Alps and 
to Italy, the culture of the city was influenced by inter- 
course with the Italians. It is to Augsburg that Ger- 
many owes one of her greatest painters, Hans Holbein. 
He was born at the very end of the fifteenth century, 
and was the son of Hans Holbein, who was also a 
painter. 

Hans Holbein the Elder painted some beautiful pic- 
tures, which for many years were thought to be the 
work of his more brilliant son. The most celebrated 
of these is the St. Sebastian altarpiece at Munich, of 
which the wings are especially interesting. On the 
right, St. Elizabeth .is represented as standing in 
queenly grace and saintly purity, ministering to the 
maimed and sick ; and on the left, is Santa Barbara, 
contemplating the chalice and the mystery of the Host. 
They might stand as symbols of works and faith. 

Hans Holbein the Elder had hard work to earn 
enough money for his family ; so his two sons, Am- 
brose and Hans, who studied with him and assisted 
him in his work, had to begin to earn their living when 
they were very young. When Hans was only fifteen 
180 



HOLBEIN. 181 

years old, he was painting pictures and earning money. 
Three years later he and his brother set out for Basle, 
a town in Switzerland noted at the time for its eminent 
men. Many of the important writings of the day were 
published in Basle, and the two young artists hoped to 
find employment there in designing title-pages and mak- 
ing illustrations for these books. Their hopes were not 
disappointed, and they soon obtained orders. The first 
work that Hans undertook was a schoolmaster's sign- 
board, and, though it is rough in treatment, it is 
interesting as one of his first paintings. The brothers 
stayed but a short time at Basle, and then they traveled 
about from town to town, working in various studios, 
as Durer had done, — for that was a part of a German 
artist's education. 

Hans was back again in Basle in 1516, and he then 
made himself known by his illustrations of a book by 
Erasmus, called the " Praise of Folly." The book was 
a keen satire on the times, and went through many 
editions, not a small part of its popularity being due to 
Holbein's appreciative and able illustrations. This was 
the beginning of the friendship between Holbein and 
the great thinker. The artist painted a number of 
portraits of Erasmus, the most celebrated of which are 
at Hampton Court and Longford Castle in England. 
One picture represents him with gray hair, and wear- 
ing a fur coat and a doctor's hat. The hands are treated 
with great delicacy ; they are resting on a book on 
which are inscribed some Greek words referring to the 
Herculean labors of Erasmus, who spent many years in 
writing his commentaries on the Bible. 

At this time Holbein painted some remarkable por- 



182 SKETCHES OE GREAT PAINTERS. 

traits that were a prophecy of the great work he was 
to do in this direction. The most interesting of these 
are the portraits of the burgomaster Jacob Meyer and 
his wife. At Lucerne, about 1517, he was employed by 
the mayor to decorate his house both within and with- 
out. He did this in an original way, but, unfortu- 
nately, only drawings and copies remain to show what 
his scheme of decoration was. A picture called the 
Fountain of Health, which was placed near an open 
fireplace, is now in Lisbon. 

Holbein became a citizen of Basle, and was constantly 
employed there in wall-painting, engraving, designing 
for glass, and in illustrating books. He also began a 
series of decorations for the Town Hall, which have 
been destroyed. In 1521 Luther's translation of the 
New Testament was published, and Holbein designed 
the title-page. He also designed the title-page for the 
second edition, though the work had been condemned 
by the Pope. Holbein was an artist of the new faith, 
and his work bears upon it the spirit of the Reforma- 
tion. 

The most celebrated religious pictures painted by 
Holbein are the Solothum Madonna and the Meyer 
Madonna. The former was painted for the Cathedral of 
Solothurn, and is now in the village church of Grenchen. 
It represents the Madonna and Child in the center, with 
St. Ursus on the left, and Martin, Bishop of Tours, on 
the right. 

The Meyer Madonna is named from the donor, the 
same Jacob Meyer of whom Holbein painted a portrait 
a number of years before. There are two of these 
pictures, so nearly alike that there is much discussion 




The Meyer Madonna. 
183 



184 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

as to which is the original. It is generally believed 
that the one at Dresden is a copy, and that the one at 
Darmstadt is the original. The burgomaster and his 
family are represented as worshiping the Madonna. 
The donor is on the left, and in front of him are his 
son and a babe. At the right are the first and second 
wives of the burgomaster, and his daughter. The 
Madonna, standing with her beautiful head against the 
ornamental niche, is a figure of wonderful dignity, and 
full of womanly sweetness. She does not need a crown 
to proclaim her a queen among women. 

As years went on, religious strife grew more bitter, 
and in 1526 Basle was in a very unsettled condition. 
The Protestants were striving for power, but they were 
opposed at every step. As a result of the trouble, 
there was a cessation of public works, and Holbein was 
obliged to leave unfinished his decorations for the 
Town Hall. Such was the poverty of the artists 
that some of them applied for the exclusive right to 
make the false beards worn in carnivals, because they 
had nothing else to do. The climax of all these mis- 
eries was the breaking out of the plague. 

Holbein was forced to seek employment away from 
his adopted city, so he set out for England, carrying with 
him letters of recommendation from his friend Erasmus. 
He probably traveled a large part of the way on foot ; 
and it is supposed that he acted as a messenger for 
Erasmus, who, in return, defrayed his expenses. At 
Antwerp he enjoyed the hospitality of a friend of 
Erasmus, and then he went on to London. He had 
been recommended to the care of Sir Thomas More, 
then the chancellor of the king, Henry VIII. Happy 



HOLBEIN. 185 

were the days that Holbein spent living on terms of 
intimacy in the household of the chancellor. He found 
there an ideal home, and though Sir Thomas More 
was a Catholic and Holbein was a Protestant, nothing- 
marred their friendship and sympathy. 

Holbein was soon at work on a portrait of the chan- 
cellor, which is one of his best works. It is now in the 
possession of a Mr. Huth, in England. Later he painted 
other portraits of Sir Thomas More. One of these had 
a strange history. On the day of the execution of the 
chancellor, the king was upbraiding Anne Boleyn, who 
had never forgiven Sir Thomas for refusing to attend 
her wedding. Suddenly she looked up, and her eyes 
met a portrait of the condemned man painted by Hol- 
bein. It looked so lifelike that the queen was enraged, 
and, seizing it, she threw it out of a window, crying, 
" That man seems still to be alive ! " 

He also painted portraits of More's friends, Sir Thomas 
Wyatt, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Sir Henry 
Guilford. Two other celebrated portraits are those of Sir 
Bryan Tuke and of Nicholas Kratzer, who was the astron- 
omer of Henry VIII. The latter picture is at the Louvre, 
and it represents the astronomer surrounded by his in- 
struments and absorbed in some scientific problem. 

About 1528 Holbein returned to Basle. He then 
painted a picture of his family, which is still in the town 
museum. He was also allowed to finish the decorations 
for the Town Hall. Times were still very hard at 
Basle, however, and religious disturbances were so great 
that Erasmus was obliged to leave the town. Holbein 
did not enjoy the strife and discord, and longed to go 
back to England. 




Nicholas Kratzek. 



HOLBEIN. 187 

The next year, on his return to England, he found that 
his friend, the chancellor, had been deposed from office 
and could no longer assist him by his patronage. Hol- 
bein had, however, won so many friends in London that 
he felt sure of employment. He lived for some time 
among his compatriots, some German merchants of the 
Steelyard, and for them he painted a number of por- 
traits. The most interesting of these is one of George 
Gyzen, now at Berlin. 

John Ruskin has given an appreciative description 
of this work, and has pointed out certain of the paint- 
er's greatest qualities. He says: "In the portrait of 
the Hausmann, George Gyzen, every accessory is per- 
fect with a fine perfection : the carnations in the glass 
vase by his side, the ball of gold chased with blue 
enamel, suspended on the wall, the books, the steelyard, 
the papers on the table, the seal ring with its quartered 
bearings, all intensely there and there in beauty of 
which no one could have dreamed that even flowers or 

gold were capable, far less parchment or steel 

He sits alone in his accustomed room, his common work 
laid out before him ; he is conscious of no presence, 
assumes no dignity, bears no sudden or superficial look 
of care or interest, lives only as he lived, but forever." 

For the German merchants Holbein also painted two 
large pictures called the Triumph of Riches and the 
Triumph of Poverty, in honor of the marriage of the 
king and Anne Boleyn. In 1533 he painted the Ambas- 
sadors, one of his largest pictures. It is supposed to 
represent Sir Thomas Wyatt and some learned friend. 
During the three following years he painted many por- 
traits and miniatures of people of distinction, which 



188 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

bear witness to his industry and increasing popularity. 
He entered the king's service in 1853, and for two years 
he was constantly painting portraits of the royal family 
and the courtiers. A portrait of King Henry VIII., of 
Jane Seymour, of Sir Richard Southwell, and a very 
fine portrait of a man named Morett belong to this 
period. 

The king showed Holbein many courtesies, and as 
time went on he became very fond of him. The artist 
was given a studio in Whitehall palace, and there 
he painted many famous portraits. A story is told 
which shows how highly his genius was estimated by 
the king. One day, while he was at work, a nobleman 
forced himself into his studio, though Holbein told 
him he could not be admitted, because he was paint- 
ing a portrait of a lady for the king. Holbein was so 
enraged at the nobleman's persistence that he threw 
him down the stairs. Then he rushed to the king and 
confessed what he had done. The nobleman was soon 
brought into the presence of the king, much disabled 
and very angry. He complained bitterly of the treat- 
ment he had received, but the king made light of the 
matter. The nobleman threatened to take the law into 
his own hands and punish the artist as he thought best. 
At this, the king cried out, " I tell you, my lord, that 
of seven peasants I can any day make seven earls, but 
out of seven earls I could not make one such artist as 
Hans Holbein." 

Holbein was sent by his royal master on a very deli- 
cate mission. It was no less than to go to Brussels to 
paint the portrait of the Duchess of Milan, whom the 
king wished to marry. The artist had but three hours 



HOLBEIN. 189 

for his sketch, but King Henry was so well pleased with 
it that he sent a proposal of marriage to the duchess. 
The marriage never took place, however, owing to a 
change in Charles V.'s policy toward England. 

According to the laws of Basle, no citizen could enter 
the service of a foreign sovereign without the consent 
of the council. So in 1538 Holbein went home to get 
permission to remain in England. The council allowed 
him to stay two years longer, on condition that he 
should settle in Basle at the end of that time, and they 
offered him a pension as an inducement. Holbein then 
went back to England, carrying the highest recommen- 
dations from the council to the king. He was welcomed 
by King Henry, who presented to him "a gilt cruse with 
cover." In return, Holbein presented to the king a 
portrait of the Prince of Wales, whom he dearly loved. 
Two of his portraits of this beautiful young prince are 
at Hanover and Basle. At the end of the two years he 
preferred to stay in England ; and, as his uncle had left 
him some property, he was independent of the pension 
offered to him. It must have been a disappointment to 
his fellow-townsmen to have him remain away from 
them, for they were justly proud of his work and of 
the honors he had received. 

Once again Holbein was sent to paint the portrait of 
a duchess. This time it was the Duchess of Cleves, 
whom King Henry wished to marry, as the Duchess of 
Milan could not become his wife. There is a tradition 
to the effect that the portrait was so nattering that the 
king decided to marry the duchess, though he had not 
been very eager before. At all events, she did not 
please him long, so she was soon divorced ,• and Thomas 



190 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

Cromwell is said to have lost his head because he had 
urgently advised the marriage. Holbein painted at 
least two other portraits of the Duchess, but the one 
painted on parchment, now at the Louvre, is said to 
have been ordered by the king. It is a wonderful 
work, and the artist has made the duchess stand before 
us with such reality, that, though she is not beautiful, 
she interests every one who looks at her. She stands 
motionless and almost expressionless, in her splendid 
robes of state, her exquisite hands clasped before her. 
The heart is filled with pity while looking at this plain, 
simple woman, who was called upon to play a part that 
required all the charm of woman's wit and beauty. 

It may be that with the fall of Anne of Cleves Hol- 
bein lost a little of the royal favor ; for the court ac- 
counts show that he received less money from the king 
after that. He continued to paint and constantly added 
to his power. Some of his strongest works belong to 
his last years. Among them are his fine and strong 
portrait of Martin Luther, and a picture representing 
King Henry granting a charter to the company of Bar- 
ber Surgeons. In 1543 he painted a miniature of him- 
self, which resembles a portrait painted many years 
before at Basle, though in the latter picture the strong 
chin is covered by a crisp beard. 

Holbein's engravings and illustrations reveal the 
thought of the day, which found free expression at 
Basle. The Dance of Death, his most important series 
of woodcuts, deals with the prevalent idea of death. 
It is based on these words, " In the midst of life we are 
in death." The pictures represent all sorts and con- 
ditions of men, feasting, working, journeying, and 




Anne of Cleves. 
191 



192 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

marrying, but death is in the midst of each scene. 
Death pours out the wine into the cup of the king; he 
walks beside the queen as she goes to her devotions ; 
he pierces the knight with his own sword ; he visits 
men of every class as they work ; and he leads away 
from the terror-stricken mother her young child. 

In following the career of Holbein, and in entering 
into the spirit of his work, interesting glimpses of the 
great men of the early part of the fifteenth century are 
obtained. His friendship with Erasmus, Luther, and 
Melanchthon, his intimate relations with Sir Thomas 
More and the leading Catholics and Protestants of King 
Henry's court, resulted in a series of portraits which 
make it possible for the world to know the faces of 
these makers of history. 

Faithfulness and truthfulness are the great qualities 
of Diirer and Holbein. The aged Bellini gazed in 
wonder at Diirer's drawing of a single hair ; and Rus- 
kin is eloquent over Holbein's portrait of a simple 
tradesman, such truth and perfect skill does it reveal. 

Holbein did not live long after he painted his last 
portrait of himself in 1543. In the same year the 
plague broke out in London in such a malignant form 
that many, stricken in the morning, died before noon- 
day. Holbein was a victim to the terrible malady, and 
died at the age of forty-six years, still at the height of 
his power and fame. 



XVI. VELASQUEZ. 

1599-1660. 

When Rubens went to Spain as an ambassador from 
Belgium, lie found at the court of King Philip a young 
painter of great promise. Always generous to men of 
his own profession, Rubens met him on terms of friendly 
intimacy, and gave him valuable advice about his career. 
This young artist is known as Velasquez. He came of 
a distinguished Portuguese family that settled in Seville 
about a hundred years before his birth, which occurred 
in the last year of the sixteenth century. His father's 
name was Juan Roderiguez de Silva, and his mother 
was Geronima Velasquez. According to the Spanish 
custom, he took the name of his mother, and was 
known as Don Diego de Silva Velasquez. 

His parents wished him to follow some public career, 
and they intended to give him an excellent education. 
But the many sketches he made on his books and 
papers soon showed where his heart and talent lay. 
His father, therefore, decided to allow him to study 
painting, and placed him in the studio of the Spanish 
painter, Herrara, who has been described as a clever 
brute. Velasquez soon learned his master's methods, 
but he became so disgusted with his roughness that he 
left Herrara, and entered the studio of Pacheco, a 
polished and cultured gentleman, though not a great 
painter. 

o 193 



191 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

Velasquez found, after a while, that no master satis- 
fied him, so he set to work to study nature in his own 
way. He made many careful studies of the common 
things about him ; fruit shops, meat shops, and beggars 
were all painted by him with the utmost devotion to 
the rendering of minute details. He painted what he 
saw, uninfluenced by what had been done before. In 
his studies he was aided by a slave who constantly 
attended him, and who was also his model. While 
serving his master, this young mulatto learned so much 
of his master's methods that he became a very good 
painter himself. 

Pacheco, who was a follower of Raphael, often remon- 
strated with his pupil for his independent and original 
methods, as, according to his views, Velasquez seemed 
to be choosing unsuitable objects for study. On one 
occasion, after some discussion with his master, Velas- 
quez said, " I would rather be the first in painting the 
things of everyday life, than the second in painting 
things of an elevated character." 

The Water Carriers, one of Velasquez's first pictures, 
was given to the Duke of Wellington by Ferdinand VII. 
This, with the Adoration of the Kings and the Adoration 
of the Shepherds, convinced Pacheco of his pupil's talent, 
and he advised him to go to Madrid. He gave him 
letters to his friends, men of rank and influence, and 
did all he could to aid the young artist. This was an 
opportunity which Velasquez had long desired. He 
wished to visit the palaces and galleries of Madrid to 
study the art treasures in them. In 1622 he set out for 
the city, accompanied by his slave. He was cordially 
received wherever he went, and he was fortunate 



VELASQUEZ. 195 

enough to win the friendship of Canon Fonseca, who 
interested Olivares, the great prime minister, in him. 
The latter intended to try to get the king to sit for his 
portrait ; but circumstances prevented this, and Velas- 
quez went back to Seville after a visit of some weeks, 
taking with him a portrait of the Spanish poet, Gon- 
gora, that he had painted for Pacheco. 

The next year Velasquez was invited to Madrid by 
Olivares. Soon after his arrival he painted a portrait 
of his patron, the Canon Fonseca. This was shown to 
the king and all his court, and it met with such success 
that King Philip wished to attach the young artist to 
his service. Velasquez remained at the Spanish court 
during the rest of his days ; and the story of his life is 
simply a record of his work in the service of the king. 
His nature was so frank, generous, and noble, that he 
won the love and respect of all ; and circumstances 
were so favoring that his life was prosperous and un- 
eventful. When he was twenty-nine years old, he mar- 
ried Pacheco's daughter. It was a happy marriage, the 
beginning of a life of helpful companionship. Velas- 
quez and his wife were united in their lives and almost in 
their deaths, for his wife survived him only a few days. 

He made two visits to Italy, one in 1629 and the 
other in 1648. The first he undertook upon the advice 
of Rubens, and he spent his time studying and copying 
the Italian masterpieces. The influence of this visit 
showed itself principally in the color of his pictures. The 
second visit had for its object the collection of works of 
art for the gallery at the royal palace, and the engaging 
of fresco painters and workers in stucco to carry out the 
decorations in a part of the palace. 



196 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

Velasquez received a certain sum of money which 
enabled him to establish his family at Madrid, and he 
also received the exclusive right to paint the king. 
He was fortunate in this, for Philip never seemed to 
weary of having his portrait painted, and he was so 
excellent a model that he often sat three hours without 
fatigue. He was deeply interested in painting, and 
spent much of his time in Velasquez's studio ; and as 
he himself painted, every stroke of the m.ister's brush 
was a lesson for him. As soon as Velasquez entered 
the king's service, he began an equestrian portrait of 
Philip. There were many interruptions in the work, 
due to visits and fetes ; but in August, 1623, it was 
finished. Unfortunately this portrait was lost, but 
there is a sketch for the picture at Madrid. 

The painter occupied various positions at the court, 
which required his constant attendance on the king. 
When Philip set out on a hunting trip, or on military 
expeditions, Velasquez accompanied him. If a royal 
guest was to be entertained, it was Velasquez who 
planned the fetes and superintended the ceremonies of 
the household. If buildings were to be restored or 
built, it was his duty to superintend or advise in regard 
to the work. Even when an equestrian statue of Philip 
was modeled, he had a large share in the planning of 
the designs. 

Such was the industrious life of the painter. Large 
claims were made on his time and energy, yet he took 
advantage of every opportunity to advance his art. 
His association with the king gave him a chance to 
know his character thoroughly. Consequently his 
portraits of Philip IV. are among his greatest works. 




Velasquez. 



The Infanta Margarita. 



197 



198 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

There are many of these portraits, and they represent 
the king on horseback, standing, at prayers, dressed for 
hunting, and in armor. There are, besides, several bust 
portraits of him. 

When Velasquez painted the king, he often painted 
a companion picture of the queen. He also painted 
their children, and nowhere, except in the pictures of 
Van Dyck, can as charming portraits of children be 
found. What a fascinating little prince Don Carlos is, 
as he appears in a hunting suit, standing beneath a 
tree with his dogs beside him, or seated on a prancing 
horse ! What could be more winning than the little 
Infanta Margarita ! Her childish dignity rests grace- 
fully on one born the daughter of a king, and with a 
queen's destiny before her. The portraits of the Infanta 
Maria Theresa are also very charming. A celebrated 
picture, called the Maids of Honor, represents the king, 
the queen, and their children, with the maids of honor 
and the artist himself. 

The landscapes which Velasquez painted when he 
Avent with the king on hunting expeditions, and to his 
beautiful country estates, often served as backgrounds 
of pictures. He represented episodes in the chase, cele- 
brating acts of prowess on the part of the king, with 
members of the court appearing as spectators. All is 
life and movement in these scenes, and the portraits 
are faithful and full of character. Remarkable portraits 
of the great prime minister, Olivares, of Pimental, the 
gentleman of the chamber, and of other distinguished 
men of the Spanish court are found at Madrid. Other 
interesting portraits by Velasquez are a portrait of a 
sculptor, and a wonderful portrait of Innocent X. 



VELASQUEZ. 199 

Velasquez's own family live on his canvases. At 
Madrid may be seen his wife represented in the act of 
drawing, as befits a painter's daughter. There, too, 
is found a portrait of his daughter Francisca. His own 
portrait is at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, and a 
picture of his whole family, painted in part by his son- 
in-law, is now at Vienna. 

A story has been told about Velasquez, similar to the 
tales of successful painters' since the days of the Greek 
Apelles; but this story seems possible, both because 
Velasquez had such power in making things appear real 
and because Philip was a little nearsighted. One day 
the king went into the painter's studio and was much 
surprised to see, as he thought, posing for his portrait, 
one of his admirals whom he had ordered to depart a 
few days before, to take command of his squadron. 
Advancing toward what he supposed to be the dis- 
obedient admiral, he exclaimed angrily, " What ! still 
here ? Did I not command you to depart ? Why have 
you not obeyed ? " The admiral was as silent and 
motionless as a stone. Then Philip discovered that he 
had been rebuking a portrait. 

A French writer thus describes his impressions in the 
portrait gallery at Madrid : " Here are portraits by the 
greatest masters, and what portraits they are ! Here 
are the Count of Bristol, by Van Dyck ; Thomas More, 
by Rubens ; portraits by Antonio Moro, by Holbein, by 
Diirer, and an admirable portrait by Tintoretto. Ah 
well, these are conventional and dead beside the works 
of Velasquez, which alone give us in all its fullness the 
illusion of life itself." 

In order to dispel his habitual sadness and melancholy, 



200 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

King Philip constantly kept at his court dwarfs, buffoons 
and comedians. Velasquez painted a number of these 
strange people, and their portraits served as decorations 
for a hall in the palace. With their curious and fan- 
tastic costumes and striking attitudes they form an 
interesting group of figures. 

One of the most celebrated religious pictures by 
Velasquez was painted during his first visit to Italy. 
It is called the Tunic of Joseph, and represents Jacob 
gazing at the bloody robe of his son, in the presence of 
the guilty brothers, who are trying to hide their con- 
sciousness of wrongdoing. In the gestures and in the 
expression of emotion in the faces, the picture is elo- 
quent and moving. Another important religious pic- 
ture, painted by Velasquez in the latter part of his life, 
is the Coronation of the Virgin. 

When Velasquez dealt with mythological subjects, the 
mythical heroes became people of the everyday world. 
Mars is a simple portrait of some Spanish soldier, not 
the god of war, such as fancy pictures him. The same 
is true of the Forge of Vulcan, in which the figures are 
wonderfully painted, though they do not suggest the 
heroes that the poets have sung. The most remarkable 
of his works of this kind is the Bacchus, or the Topers. 
There is almost a touch of satire in his treatment of such 
themes, so completely does he rob them of poetic charm. 

Two of the most striking figures painted by Velasquez 
are those to which he gave the names of the Greek 
philosopher, Menippus, and the celebrated fabulist, 
JEsop, a Phrygian slave who lived about the sixth 
century B.C., and was made a freedman on account of 
his wit and learning. 



202 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

Just before his second visit to Italy, Velasquez 
painted a great historical picture, called the Surrender 
of Breda, or the Lances. When on his way to Italy 
for the first time, he crossed the Mediterranean with 
Count Spinola. From the conqueror's lips he learned 
the details of the surrender of the stronghold of Breda 
by the Dutch. It was an incident in the long and 
obstinate resistance of the Dutch to Spanish power ; 
and Velasquez found it an inspiring subject for a pic- 
ture, especially as it would immortalize the victory of 
the Spanish army. In the background of the picture 
is an immense plain, a panorama showing canals and 
tents bathed in light. On the right is the Spanish 
army, drawn up as for parade or battle, displaying 
standards, ensigns, and a forest of lances, which give 
the name to the picture. On the left are Dutch sol- 
diers, heavy and phlegmatic in comparison with the 
distinguished and haughty Spaniards. The horses of 
the chiefs break the monotony of the groups and add 
to the picturesqueness of the scene. In the space be- 
tween the escorts of the chiefs stand Count Spinola 
and Justin of Nassau, the Dutch general in command 
at Breda. The latter bends forward and presents to 
the conqueror the key of the fortress. The Spanish 
chief receives it with uncovered head and with his staff 
and hat in his hand. He places his other hand on the 
shoulder of the Dutch commander, and such is the life- 
like appearance of the scene that we seem to hear his 
affable words to Justin, congratulating him on his 
long and brave, though unsuccessful, defense of the 
fortress. 

Most of the figures in the picture are portraits of 



VELASQUEZ. 203 

members of the army. The scene is a moving one, full 
of life and light. It gives a sensation of space and 
atmosphere, and all is expressed in warm, harmonious 
color. If Velasquez had been an eyewitness, he could 
not have told the story with more vividness. 

Two pictures which are among^the most interesting 
works of Velasquez belong, one to the early part of his 
career, and the other to his last years. The first, the 
Reunion of Gentlemen, was painted before his first jour- 
ney to Italy. It represents several groups of Spanish 
gentlemen, the artist being among them, picturesquely 
arranged to form one composition. 

The second picture, the Tapestry Weavers, shows the 
interior of a manufactory of tapestry. In the foreground 
is represented the workshop, where women are preparing 
wool to be used in weaving. In a room beyond, a large 
wall tapestry upon some mythological subject is on ex- 
hibition, and a number of ladies are looking at it. In 
the workroom the air is so hot and stifling that the 
women have unloosened their garments. At the right 
is a beautiful young woman whose bare neck and 
shoulders are moist with perspiration as she works. 
A burning ray of sunshine which streams into the 
inner room and illumines the tapestry on the wall, also 
falls on this young woman and makes a picturesque 
mass of light. In contrast to her, in the middle of the 
room, sits an old woman at work ; while at her left, 
seated by a swiftly turning wheel, is another woman 
so old and grim that she might represent one of the 
Fates. 

In the course of his life at the Spanish court, Velas- 
quez superintended many great festivals ; but the last 



204 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

ceremony at which he officiated was the greatest of 
them all. The courts of France and Spain met on the 
Isle of Pheasants, in 1660, and Louis XIV., accom- 
panied by the queen mother, received the Infanta, 
Maria Theresa as his wife. The responsibility for all 
the pomp and splendor of this fete devolved upon thb 
court painter. He performed his duties with such 
satisfaction to the royal guests that he was congratu- 
lated on his success in providing such magnificent 
apartments and such royal entertainment. But the 
preparations were so extensive that Velasquez over- 
taxed his strength, and he returned to Madrid much 
exhausted. He recovered sufficiently to attend to his 
duties for a time , but after a court attendance in July, 
1660, he was taken ill and died soon after. 

Before his death Velasquez was made a member of 
the Order of Santiago, an honor attained only by the 
greatest Spaniards. It is said to have been conferred 
on him in a most unusual way. When he had finished 
the Maids of Honor, he showed it to the king and 
asked, " Is anything wanting ? " " Nothing," replied 
the king, "but this." Then taking the brush and pal- 
ette from the artist, Philip painted on the breast of the 
portrait of Velasquez the Cross of the Order of Santi- 
ago. Velasquez had many pupils, and his influence was 
great in his own day, and perhaps it is even stronger 
to-day. 



XVII. MURILLO. 

1618-1682. 

The religious zeal of the Spaniards was kept alive by 
wars with the Moors, and they were among the most 
ardent of Catholic nations. In the works of Bartolome 
Esteban Murillo is found an expression of the religious 
spirit of Spain, and a presentation of the daily life of the 
people. His work is essentially Spanish in character, 
for he never traveled away from his own country. He 
was little influenced by classic art, as the only chance 
he had of stiKtying it was through the few Italian pic- 
tures at Madrid, until Velasquez brought back a collec- 
tion of copies and casts from Italy. 

Murillo was born in Seville in 1618, in a house belong- 
ing to a convent. His father, Gaspar Esteban, was 
poor, a merchant by trade, and was allowed to occupy 
his house at a low rent. The boy was given the name 
of Murillo from one of his relatives. 

This little Spanish boy began, like all his companions, 
to try to draw. His successes fired his ambition, and 
more and more of his time was spent in making sketches. 
Nothing interested him but this work, and his lessons 
became irksome. He was left an orphan when very 
young, and his uncle and aunt, who took care of him, 
apprenticed him to Juan de Castillo. Although his 
master had a flourishing school, he was not an able 
painter, and he taught Murillo little more than color- 
205 



206 SKETCHES OF GKEAT PAINTERS. 

mixing and drawing. In 1640 Juan de Castillo went 
to Cadiz to live, and his pupil was left to his own 
resources. 

Murillo was obliged to do something to earn his liv- 
ing ; but his chance of success with painting seemed 
slight, as there were many artists of reputation in Seville, 
and he was modest and retiring. However, he discov- 
ered a means of earning his livelihood and of gaining 
some valuable study at the same time. A weekly mar- 
ket was held in front of the Church of All Saints, and 
there Murillo stationed himself among gypsies and mule 
drivers. He found a ready sale for his rough, showy 
sketches among the lower class of people, who liked 
pictures full of bright colors. While he sat and 
painted, interested beggar boys were wont to gather 
about him, hindering him at his work, as they pressed 
about his elbow and his paint box. Annoyed as the 
artist was by his spectators, he had rare opportunities 
for studying them, and these studies resulted in a 
remarkable series of pictures of beggar boys and flower 
girls. These little street urchins are represented with 
wonderful truth. They are happy, despite their rags 
and dirt ; and they have a keen enjoyment of fun, and 
of the good morsels that sometimes chance to fall to 
their share. 

In 1642 Murillo's horizon became a little wider. A 
friend who had been in Flanders and England, and had 
studied with Van Dyck, came back to Seville with copies 
of the great works he had seen in his travels. Murillo 
then felt that it would benefit him to travel, so he set 
about earning money for this purpose. He painted a 
number of very salable pictures, many of which were 



MURILLO. 207 

sent to the colonies in America ; and with the money 
thus acquired he started on foot for Madrid. When he 
reached the city, as he had neither money nor friends, 
he went to Velasquez to ask his advice. Velasquez 
was then court painter to Philip IV., and was enjoying 
power and success. He received his fellow-townsman 
cordially, and invited him to remain with him for a 
time. The young- painter was given an opportunity of 
studying the royal art collections, and he was intro- 
duced to men of taste and influence in art matters. 

Murillo copied many pictures at Madrid, and made 
such rapid progress that Velasquez tried to interest the 
king in his young protege. He also advised him to 
go to Rome to study, and gave him letters of introduc- 
tion to take with him; but Murillo longed so to get 
back once more to his beloved Seville — a city beautiful 
enough to win the devotion of any painter — that he 
gave up all thoughts of foreign travel. 

Soon after his return from Madrid, Murillo began 
the decoration of a Franciscan convent. The amount 
of money raised for the commission was so small that 
the older and more distinguished artists did not care 
to. undertake the work. After some hesitation the 
commission was given to Murillo, who was eager to do 
some important work. The decorations consisted of 
eleven pictures, several of which were carried away by 
the French when they invaded Spain. They are now 
in various galleries of Europe. The Death of St. Clara, 
the finest of the series, is in England, and the Angel 
Kitchen is at the Louvre. To the same period belong 
Murillo's pictures of beggar boys and flower girls and 
similar subjects, besides a number of religious pictures 




The Immaculate Conception. 



MURILLO. 209 

representing simple scenes with figures carefully studied 
from nature. 

Murillo married a rich and highborn lady of Seville. 
He had two sons, one of whom went to America, while 
the other, after devoting himself to art for a number of 
years, became Canon of Seville Cathedral. His daugh- 
ter entered a convent in Seville ; so it seems that the 
devotion to Catholicism shown in Murillo's pictures was 
shared by his family. 

When he had finished the decorations in the Francis- 
can convent, Murillo's reputation was established. His 
works, as the years went on, were more and more appre- 
ciated by his countrymen, and he was much in demand 
for painting pictures for convents and churches. For 
the Seville Cathedral he painted the heads of several 
saints, an Immaculate Conception, and tSt. Anthony of 
Padua Visited by the Christ Child. 

The Immaculate Conception was a favorite subject 
with Spanish artists, and especially with Murillo. 
When Philip IV. became the king of Spain, he made 
a solemn recognition of the dogma of the Immaculate 
Conception. Very few pictures representing this belief 
in the Virgin's spotless nature were painted before the 
seventeenth century ; but when Pope Paul V., under 
the influence of Spanish priests, issued a bull forbid- 
ding the teaching of anything contrary to this doctrine, 
Seville was joyous, and an impressive ceremony took 
place in the cathedral. Laws were laid down for the 
representation of the subject, which Spanish artists were 
obliged to follow in the main. In most of the pictures 
the Virgin is represented as floating upward toward 
heaven. Beneath her feet is the crescent moon or 



210 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

sometimes a dragon. Behind her head is usually an 
aureole, lost in the misty background, where hosts of 
little cherubs circle about, peeping out from behind 
soft clouds and drapery. In Murillo's most celebrated 
picture on this subject at the Louvre, the Virgin, in 
a simple, blue mantle and flowing, white robe which 
covers her feet, ascends to heaven with her hands folded 
meekly on her breast. Her face is that of a Spanish 
peasant girl, and on it are expressed adoration and 
sweet resignation. The whole forms an exquisite vision 
of purity and devotion. 

Murillo painted twenty pictures of the Immaculate 
Conception. Four of these, including one painted for 
the Capuchin convent, and called by the Spaniards "the 
pearl of Murillo's Coneeptio7is^ are in the Museum at 
Seville, and four more are in the Prado at Madrid. 

The legend of St. Anthony tells how, when the saint 
was kneeling one day in his cell, in a vision the Christ 
Child appeared to descend from heaven, attended by 
cherubs, and to rest in his arms, while lilies sprang up 
all around. Murillo's picture at the Seville Cathedral 
represents the rapture of the saint at the apparition of 
the Christ Child. He is kneeling in his cell, when sud- 
denly its narrow bounds are widened to admit the radi- 
ant vision. The figure of St. Anthony was cut from 
the painting by some marauder, but it was afterward 
found in America and restored to its place. There is 
another picture by Murillo, representing the Vision of 
St. Anthony, in the Museum at Seville. It is a beauti- 
ful rendering of the story, and the ecstasy and tender- 
ness in the face of the saint touch the heart deeply. 

In the same year that Murillo painted the St. An- 



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212 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

thony of Padua for the Seville Cathedral, he received a 
commission from his friend and patron, Canon Neve, to 
paint four large pictures for the Church of Santa Maria 
la Blanca, which was being restored. Two of them illus- 
trate the legend of " Our Lady of the Snow," and are 
called the Bream and the Fulfillment. They are now in 
Madrid, though they were among the spoils of war 
during the French invasion. The legend tells how a 
Roman senator and his wife, having no children, desired 
to leave all their wealth to the Virgin. They prayed 
the Virgin to show them in what manner she wished 
them to consecrate their wealth. She appeared to each 
of them in a dream, commanding them to build a church 
upon the Esquiline Hill, and she promised to indicate 
the place by snow. They then went to the Pope, who 
had been told of their coming, and after receiving his 
blessing, they set out for the hill attended by a great 
concourse of people. They toiled up the hill in the 
summer heat and found the spot consecrated by snow 
sent by the Virgin, and there they laid the foundation 
of a church. 

When King Ferdinand III. was canonized in 1671, 
there was a great religious festival at Seville, and Mu- 
rillo was commissioned to decorate All Saints' Chapel. 
Such was his success that his countrymen were loud in 
his praises, and compared him to Apelles and Titian. 

In the middle of the seventeenth century, the church 
and hospital of the brotherhood of the Holy Charity 
were in such a state of decay that they could no 
longer be used. At length one of the most devout 
members determined to collect funds for the restoration 
of the buildings of the order. He gave large gifts of 



MURILLO. 213 

splendid ornaments for the church, and he was instru- 
mental in having Murillo commissioned to decorate it. 
For four years the painter was occupied with three pic- 
tures for the side altars and eight for the walls. The 
former remain in the church ; but the others are scat- 
tered, five of them having been carried away by the 
French. St. Elizabeth of Hungary and the Return of 
the Prodigal Son are the greatest of these pictures. 
While they remained at La Caridad, as the hospital 
was called, they attracted many visitors, who made gen- 
erous offerings for the poor ; so that the pictures were 
a great loss, and many suffered when they were taken 
away. 

Before Murillo finished his paintings at La Caridad, 
he began the decoration of a Capuchin convent, and for 
six or seven years he worked there, living some of the 
time in the convent. When the French invaded Spain, 
these works were saved by being sent to Gibraltar. The 
Madonna of the Napkin is one of the most famous of the 
series. We are told that the monks at the convent were 
very much interested in the progress of the decorations, 
and they became much attached to the artist, so that 
when his work was finished they were loath to see him 
depart. The monk who acted as cook went to Murillo 
and begged for a picture from his hand. The artist was 
willing to grant the request, but he had no canvas. The 
monk replied, "Take this napkin and paint on this." 
Murillo did so, and painted on it a picture of the Virgin 
and Child, the Madonna of the Napkin, so beautiful in 
color that it has been much admired, and many copies 
of it have been made. 

The St. Francis painted for the same convent shows 



214 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

most fully the devotional nature of Murillo's works. 
The saint is dressed as a monk, standing with one foot 
resting on a ball. One arm of the crucified Christ is 
detached from the cross and rests on the shoulder of St. 
Francis, who supports the figure of Christ with the ten- 
derest pity, gazing at Him in ecstasy and adoration. 
Another picture painted for the Capuchin convent, the 
Guardian Angel, is an expression of the belief in the 
angelic guidance of childish feet. 

Among Murillo's delightful pictures of children are 
the Infant Christ as the Good Shepherd, St. John and 
the Lamb, and the Children with the Lamb. This last 
picture represents the Christ Child giving water to the 
little St. John in a shell. Another beautiful picture 
of the Christ Child represents him standing on a globe. 
In the Holy Family at the National Gallery is a lovely 
figure of the youthful Savior represented as standing 
on the base of a ruined column, between Mary and 
Joseph. The Holy Spirit is descending upon Him in 
the form of a dove, and the Child's face is aglow with 
light from above. 

The vast amount of work accomplished by Murillo 
shows how industrious he must have been. His was 
a quiet life, devoted to his art ; and his journeys to 
Madrid and Cadiz were among the most important 
incidents in his uneventful career. He was kind and 
generous by nature, and was beloved by all who knew 
him. 

He had for many years a faithful slave named 
Sebastian Gomez, who was constantly with the master 
while he painted and while he gave lessons to his 
pupils. One day Murillo left a picture of the Virgin 




The Christ Child in the "Holy Family.' 
215 



216 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

on his easel, intending to finish it some other time. A 
few days later, when he looked at his picture, he found 
that it had been completed in a very able manner. 
He was naturally curious to know who had done it. 
When, at last, he discovered that Gomez had finished 
the picture, he made him free, and the ex-slave after- 
ward painted some excellent pictures that can still be 
seen in Spain. 

Murillo had many pupils, and his influence upon the 
art of his country was great. He lent his sympathetic 
aid in establishing at Seville an academy for the study 
of art, and he worked with enthusiasm to further its 
ends ; but it was badly managed, and was discontinued 
soon after his death. 

In 1(380 Murillo went to Cadiz to paint some pictures 
for the Capuchin convent. While at work on the large 
altarpiece, the Marriage of St. Catherine, he fell from 
the scaffolding and was so seriously injured that he 
could paint no more. He had finished the central 
group of the Madonna and Child, but the rest was com- 
pleted by another hand. After this accident Murillo 
returned to Seville and spent much of his time in the 
Church of Santa Cruz. In it there was a picture of the 
Descent from the Cross, and before this he would kneel 
for hours at a time in the sort of religious ecstasy that 
he knew so well how to express in his pictures. 

When Murillo felt that his end was drawing near, 
he sent for a notary to make his will, but he died before 
the lawyer finished it. He was buried with great 
pomp in the Church of Santa Cruz, beneath the picture 
that he had loved so much. A marble slab was placed 
over his grave, but it was destroyed at the time of the 



MTTRILLO. 217 

French invasion. The Spanish people have shown 
their love for him by erecting two tablets to his mem- 
ory, — one at the Academy of Arts, and one near his 
home. Seville has also honored him by a bronze statue 
placed near the museum where so many of his works 
hang-. 



XVIII. CLAUDE LORRAINE. 

1600-1682. 

While Jacob van Ruisdael was working in obscurity 
and poverty, and striving to express the melancholy 
charm and poetry of northern nature with its threaten- 
ing skies, its shadowy landscapes, and tempest-beaten 
trees, Claude Lorraine, a French painter, was at Rome 
trying to paint what had never been painted before, — 
the sun in the heavens. Ruskin says, he "made the sun 
his subject, and painted the effects of misty shadows 
cast by his rays over the landscape, and other delicate 
aerial transitions, as no one had ever done before, and, 
in some respects, as no one has done in oil color since." 
In the rich memories of the land of his birth, where 
the Moselle winds through a charming valley in the 
old Duchy of Lorraine, and in the loveliness of the 
sunny Italian landscapes, he found ample inspiration. 

Claude Gellee, called Claude le Lorrain or Claude 
Lorraine, was born at Champagne in 1600. His par- 
ents died during his childhood, and as the family was 
in very humble circumstances, he was obliged, as 
soon as he could, to seek some employment. There 
are various accounts of his early life. One says that 
he was apprenticed to a pastry cook who went to Rome 
with some artists. Another says that he sought out his 
brother at Freiburg, and learned from him the art of 
wood-carving and engraving, and afterward went to 



CLAUDE L0R11AINE. 219 

Rome with a relative who was a lace merchant. At 
all events, he did go to Rome, and at last succeeded 
in entering the household of Agostino Tassi, a land- 
scape painter of Perugia, who had studied with Paul 
Bril, one of the pioneers in landscape art in the Nether- 
lands. 

The young Frenchman performed all sorts of duties 
in the household of his master, who instructed him in 
drawing and painting in his leisure moments. He 
lived in this way until he was twenty-five years old. 
Then for two years he traveled, making a roundabout 
journey to reach his home in Lorraine. He remained 
in Venice for some time, and found in her scenery and 
in her art much that delighted him. 

From Venice, Claude's line of travel is doubtful, but 
he is supposed to have stayed for a time in Bavaria, 
where later King Louis I. erected a monument in 
memory of his visit. Unlike the scenery of Venice, 
the wildly picturesque country through which he 
passed found no record in his works ; for his genius 
led him to paint the calm, harmonious aspects of 
nature. 

At length, after journeying through the Black Forest 
and across the Vosges Mountains, he was once more in 
his native land, after an absence of many years. De- 
lightful memories of childish experiences must have 
been awakened by the sight of the beautiful valley of 
Champagne, but there was no inducement for him to 
remain there. He therefore went to Nancy, then the 
capital of Lorraine and an art center. There he was 
introduced by a relative to Claude Druet, a painter 
who at that time occupied an influential position in art 



220 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

matters, and who readily engaged him to assist in some 
decorative work on the roof of a Carmelite church. 

Soon after some change was made in the contract, and 
Claude left Nancy and set out for Rome. When he 
reached Marseilles and was about to set sail for Itaty, 
he became ill, and was robbed of all his money. But 
he soon found a rich patron who bought some of his 
pictures, and he was thus enabled to continue his jour- 
ney, arriving in Rome in 1627. 

When Claude was once more in Rome, he began a 
serious course of study, which extended over many 
years. His methods of work have been described by 
one of his friends, a German artist named Sandrart, to 
whom we are indebted for much that is known of 
him. He says that Claude used to make excursions 
into the country every day, making sketches direct from 
nature in the open air. The rising and the setting sun, 
the mists, the effects of distance and atmosphere, were 
all studied by him with the greatest faithfulness. Some 
of his pictures are records of such studies ; but the larger 
number of his compositions contain various elements 
brought together into a splendid and harmonious whole. 
His studies were of great value to him, especially in his 
later years, when gout put a stop to outdoor work. 

After Claude returned to Rome he painted some dec- 
orations for Italian palaces. He was engaged in fulfil- 
ling various commissions till 16-30, when he began to be 
employed by princely patrons. In that year he painted 
for the French ambassador at the papal court the View 
of the Campo Vaccino, and a seaport called the Porcelain 
Dealers. The Cardinal Bentivoglio, whose portrait was 
painted by Van Dyck, became his patron, and through 



CLAUDE LORRAINE. 221 

his influence lie was brought to the notice of Pope 
Urban VIII., who gave him several commissions. 
Among the pictures painted for the Pope is a seaport 
called the Ancient Port of Messina, and a pastoral scene 
called the Village Fete. 

For twelve years Claude devoted himself to faith- 
ful and profound study of light and tone and the 
various problems that belong to landscape art. When 
he was about forty years old, he began to be rewarded 
for his devotion to his work, and his position became 
established. The patronage of the Pope and his family 
brought him into connection with men of wealth and 
taste in the papal court ; and the rest of his life was 
spent in fulfilling commissions for his patrons, among 
whom were two popes and many princes and cardinals. 
In a few years his work became known and admired 
outside of Italy, and important orders came to him 
from England, France, the Netherlands, and Spain. 

So many orders came to Claude that he often made 
repetitions of former pictures, and they were so popular 
that copyists and imitators caused him a good deal 
of annoyance. At one time a fellow-countryman paid 
him a visit at his studio. Claude showed him an 
unfinished landscape on which he was at work. Then 
this Bourdon, who had remarkable power in copying 
other men's pictures, in his own studio painted the 
same landscape from memory, and presented it to the 
public as the best work that Claude had produced. 

It is said that Pope Clement IX. admired exceedingly 
one of Claude's open-air studies representing the Roman 
Campagna, and in order to tempt the artist to sell it, 
he offered to give him as many gold pieces as would 



222 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

cover the canvas. But it was too precious to be sold 
at any price. Claude painted many beautiful classical 
landscapes showing picturesque Roman ruins and an- 
cient temples, always glowing with the most exquisite 
golden light. He painted also pastoral scenes and 
pictures called seaports, which were among his finest 
works. These often reflect the life of the Venetian 
shore with its brilliantly colored architecture and its 
stately ships, illumined by the rays of the setting sun 
or veiled in mist. The impression of space in these 
pictures is wonderful. The imagination follows the 
line of sunlight on the waves, past the beautiful shores, 
far out to the horizon, and it seems as though the land 
of the mysterious past, full of poetry and undreamed- 
of splendor, lay just beyond. 

One of the most beautiful of Claude's seaports is the 
Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba. The queen is rep- 
resented as starting out on her famous visit to King 
Solomon in the early morning. The rays of the rising sun 
light up the architecture and the shipping, which form 
a picturesque setting for the figures, and a boat lies at 
anchor ready to convey the queen and her attendants to 
the ship near the entrance of the port. 

The incidents in his pictures are drawn from many 
sources. The Bible, mythology, legends of the saints, 
history, and the poems of the Latin poet Ovid furnished 
him with a variety of themes ; but in each and all of 
his pictures the incidents count for little and the land- 
scape is everything. Like Ruisdael, Claude found 
great difficulty in painting men and animals, and 
though he tried to do it all his life, he had little suc- 
cess. There is a touch of pathos, mingled with humor, 



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224 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

in his confession that he sold his landscapes, but that 
he gave away his figures. In the latter part of his 
life he employed other artists to paint the figures and 
animals in his pictures. 

Claude's landscapes have certain qualities that are 
readily recognized as one goes from gallery to gallery. 
They have a spirit of repose and calm, and they are full 
of the splendor of light glowing in the sky, on the 
waves of the sea, or on the walls of gorgeous palaces 
or ancient temples. All the beauty of airy distance is 
in them, and "golden glimmers of light are interwoven 
with the dark foliage," while the beautiful, delicate 
colors are combined most harmoniously. 

Claude befriended a poor, deformed lad named Gio- 
vanni Domenico, even to taking him into his house and 
instructing him in drawing and painting. Domenico 
remained with him for twenty years and acquired some 
reputation as a landscape painter. When he left his 
master he demanded pay for all the years he had lived 
with him, and Claude, who dreaded controversies, 
paid the ungrateful young artist all that he claimed. 
Afterward he became an imitator of his master, and he 
may have been responsible for many weak works sold 
under Claude's name. 

While at work on the commissions for the king of 
Spain, which he took up in 1650, Claude began to form 
a book of drawings of his most important works. It is 
supposed that his object in doing this was to prevent 
the fraudulent sales of the copyists. The book is 
called "Liber Veritatis " ("Book of Truth"). It con- 
tains two hundred drawings, bearing the artist's signa- 
ture, and often the name of the person for whom they 



CLAUDE LOEEAINE. 225 

were painted. At his death it was willed to a young 
girl of his household, and was to be given to his heirs 
after her death. It remained in his family for some 
time, and then fell into the hands of a French jeweler, 
who sold it in Holland. In 1770 it came into the 
possession of the Duke of Devonshire. Besides the 
"Liber Veritatis," Claude left six volumes of sketches, 
which are now in different galleries. 

Claude kept on painting almost to the day of his 
death ; but his later works showed that his powers 
were failing. The color suffered most, becoming cold 
and unlike the glad, golden tone of his best pictures. 
His last work was a drawing of the three columns of 
the Temple of Castor and Pollux, which bears the date 
of 1682. In the same year he died at Rome and was 
buried in the Church of Trinita de' Monti. Later his 
remains were removed by the French to Paris. 

Claude's will throws some light on his personal his- 
tory, of which so little is known. When his friend 
Sandrart went back. to German}- in 1635, Claude, who 
had depended upon him for many things, was so lonely 
that he invited one of his own nephews to live with 
him. From that time he was relieved of all responsi- 
bility in his household, for the nephew attended even to 
the buying of his colors. To this nephew he left a gen- 
erous bequest ; and to all his relatives he was always 
generous, so much so that though he had received large 
prices for his pictures, at his death his property was 
not very large. The little girl named Agnes, to whom 
he left the " Liber Veritatis," was eleven years old and 
dependent on his bounty, and to her he left many of 
his worldly goods. 



XIX. MILLET. 

1815-1875. 

In the winter of 1837 there was frequently seen at 
the Louvre in Paris a shy, awkward peasant boy. He 
looked at no one and spoke to no one ; but he stood 
before some of the pictures, drinking in their beauty 
and power. He wandered from the works of Nicolas 
Poussin, his favorite among his own countrymen, to 
those that he most enjoyed among the Old Masters, — ■ 
the works of Correggio and Fra Angelico. But noth- 
ing excited his admiration and awe to such a degree as 
some drawings by Michelangelo. This companionship 
with pictures was his only solace afar from his peasant 
home that he missed more and more as the days went 
by, for he was lonely and ill at ease in the great city. 

This country lad was Jean Frangois Millet, who had 
been sent to Paris to finish his studies. He was born 
in the little hamlet of Gruchy, in the part of France 
called La Hogue, and there he lived until he was 
eighteen years old. His life up to that time was 
outwardly like that of any French peasant boy. His 
father owned a small farm and cultivated it, but his 
toilsome life did not make him insensible to the beau- 
ties of nature ; and it is said that lie modeled figures 
in clay to amuse his children, and often called their 
attention to the beauties of the world about them. The 
story of his mother's life is full of touching pathos. 
226 



MILLET. 227 

Like most of the women of her class, she was obliged 
to resign the care of her children to her husband's 
mother, while she worked like a man on the farm. 
The grandmother was a very strong character with a 
deeply religious nature, and throughout Millet's life 
she exerted an influence on him, and took great pride 
in his success. It was she who named him after her 
favorite saint, St. Francis of Assisi. She constantly 
recalled to his mind his saintly namesake, and the fact 
that holy artists of olden times had devoted their talents 
to the glory of God. 

Among the family at Gruchy was another inter- 
esting character. This was Millet's uncle who was a 
priest. Daring the Reign of Terror he was obliged to 
conceal himself, and the story of his adventures is most 
thrilling. When he was allowed once more to take up 
his work as a priest, he continued to labor on the farm. 
If he had a furrow to trace, he thrust his prayer book 
into his pocket, and, tucking the skirts of his cassock 
round his waist, worked with a will. To him Millet 
owed his early education. His other uncles were also 
readers and thinkers, and from them Millet acquired a 
taste for the best Latin and French literature. 

The young Millet saw little of the joyous side of life ; 
but the toil, the pathos, and the tragedy of existence 
were constantly brought before him. His father's 
farm, like many of those near the sea, was on a steep 
slope, and on such land the labor and fatigue are dou- 
bled. The poor, patient mother and all her family knew 
the severest toil. Often they went out with great 
forks to gather the seaweed driven to shore by a storm. 
This hard and dangerous work impressed upon the boy 



228 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

the terrible, destructive power of the sea. Millet relates 
that one day while walking home over the sands after 
a shipwreck he saw a sailcloth covering a pile of mer- 
chandise. Soon he came to another great heap, covered 
in a similar manner. He lifted the sailcloth to see what 
was under it and found a heap of dead bodies. He was 
so frightened that lie ran straight home, and found his 
mother and grandmother on their knees at prayer for 
the poor people. 

Day after day, Millet worked in the fields during the 
season, and in winter he read and studied. Often he 
must have spent his leisure in drawing the familiar 
things about him, and he must have thought of high 
and noble things ; for a gentleman who met him said, 
"I have talked with a boy whose soul is as charming 
as poesy itself." 

One day when Millet was eighteen years old, as he 
was returning from mass, he saw a peasant with stoop- 
ing shoulders and bent figure. When he reached home, 
he drew a sketch of the old man in charcoal. His 
father, seeing it, said to him, " Now the other boys 
have grown and I can dispense with your aid about 
the farm, you may do what I long ago wished to have 
you do, — that is, you may take some drawings to 
Cherbourg to see if you have enough talent to earn 
your livelihood as an artist." 

Millet immediately set to work to make two drawings. 
One of these represented a shepherd playing on a flute 
while another listened to him. The other picture showed 
a starry night, with a man carrying some bread to another 
waiting near by. Under it was written the words of the 
eighth verse in the eleventh chapter of St. Luke. 



MILLET. 229 

In 1832 he carried his drawings to Cherbourg. A 
young artist to whom he showed his work gave him 
every encouragement, and said to his father, " You will 
be condemned for having prevented your son so long 
from studying." It was decided that Millet should stay 
at Cherbourg, and there he worked for three years, copy- 
ing the Old Masters in the Museum and drawing and 
painting constantly. 

At the end of three years, Millet was called back to 
Gruchy, on account of his father's death. For a time 
he tried to take his father's place as the head of the 
family, but he longed to go on with his art work. 
Some artists at Cherbourg, who had become interested 
in him, urged him to return to the city. His grand- 
mother also advised him to do so, and he willingly took 
her advice. He then became a pupil of an artist named 
Langlois, who allowed him to work with him on copies 
of the Old Masters. Langlois felt that Millet ought to 
go to Paris to study, and through his influence the 
Council of Cherbourg voted him an annuity, and the 
Council of La Manche added enough to make it two 
hundred dollars. 

Thus it happened that in the winter of 1837 Millet 
was spending his spare time at the Louvre. He carried 
with him to Paris letters of introduction to several 
people ; but the first year was full of trouble and hard- 
ship, for he was proud, sensitive, and afraid of the 
world. He constantly longed for his home, and at 
length he fell ill. Some kind friend took him to the 
country ; but he was soon back again in Paris. He 
entered Delaroche's studio, but he also worked inde- 
pendently in a little attic. 




The Sower. 



MILLET. 231 

Millet never received much benefit from his masters, 
and preferred to work in his own way. At Delaroche's 
he began a picture, intending to compete for the Prix 
de Rome — a prize offered yearly to French artists, 
which enables the winner to have four years of study 
in Rome. Millet tried to make his work conform to 
the requirements of the judges ; and he worked with 
hope and energy until Delaroche told him that it was 
useless to try for the prize, for it was to be given that 
year to a certain artist. He added, however, that he 
would try to obtain it for him the next year. The 
honest peasant was so shocked at this evidence of in- 
justice that he left the studio of his master. 

Then Millet and one of his comrades at the studio, 
Louis Alexandre Marolle, took a studio together, but 
their combined income was too small to allow them to 
live in any comfort. He studied very hard, and spent 
a great deal of time at the libraries, where he read 
the best books about the human form, such as those 
of Albrecht Diirer and Leonardo da Vinci. Marolle 
always accompanied Millet, to ask for books and act 
as his means of communication with the outside world, 
for the peasant lad was so shy that he could not ask 
questions of strangers. At Marolle's suggestion, Millet 
made a number of drawings in imitation of two of the 
popular painters of the day, Boucher and Watteau, 
and from the sale of these he earned a little money. 
He sold also a number of portraits and managed to 
support himself in this way. 

It was not till 1840, when he was twenty-five years 
old, that Millet made his first exhibit at the Paris Salon. 
He sent two portraits, only one of which was accepted, 



232 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

and this received no notice. In the same year he 
returned to Cherbourg, where he painted a number of 
portraits and pictures of local interest, and even made 
signboards in order to earn a little money. He also 
received an order for a religious picture, which brought 
him about -160. 

Among the portraits that Millet painted at Cherbourg 
was one of a young woman whom he soon after married. 
The wedding took place at Gruchy, in November, 1841. 
At the wedding feast, the grandmother addressed some 
earnest words to her grandson, entreating him to re- 
member that he was a Christian before he was a 
painter, to try to follow the example of the saintly men 
like Fra Angelico, who had painted great pictures, and 
to keep his work pure and holy. 

In 1842 Millet and his young wife went to Paris and 
lived in a poor apartment in the rue Princesse. That 
year he sent to the Salon two pictures which were 
rejected, and two years later he sent two pictures done 
in colored crayons, or pastels. One of these, called a 
Riding Lesson, represented a group of children playing 
horse. It was a fine composition and was much ad- 
mired. Millet's wife, after a long illness, died in the 
same year, and he went to Havre, where he painted 
many pictures to please the taste of sailors and fisher- 
folk. These were not at all suited to his serious mind, 
but they were his only means of earning money. Be- 
fore he returned to Paris he painted a famous picture, 
the Infant Oedipus Detached from the Tree. 

Soon after his second marriage, in 1845, Millet tried 
to win his way in Paris again. He painted many nude 
figures at this time, for such pictures were the only ones 



MILLET. 233 

he could sell. As he studied Correggio with great 
devotion, many of these figures were masterly and fine. 
One of them, called the Bathers, had rather a curious 
story connected with it. One day as Millet was pass- 
ing a shop window where this picture was on exhibi- 
tion, he heard one man say to another, " Who painted 
that picture ? " When he heard the answer, " Oh, it is 
by a man named Millet, who paints nothing but such 
things," he was pained and shocked. With the poetry 
and pathos of life, and the loveliness of the land and 
sky forever in his heart, and with high dreams of 
expressing all this in his work, he was deeply troubled. 
He went home and told his wife of his experience. He 
then explained to her what a difference it would make 
in their income if he painted no more such pictures ; 
but she was willing to accept the harder struggle, and 
he decided to paint nothing more of the kind. 

The real work of his life — a great pastoral poem, in 
which he described the life of the peasant from birth to 
old age, and the poetry of nature and the changing day 
— was begun in 184:8, with his first peasant subject, the 
Man Winnowing Corn. His work was interrupted for a 
short time in this year, for he was obliged to shoulder 
a musket in defense of the city. He began in the same 
year his Haymakers, ordered by Ledru Rollin, but was 
interrupted by illness. Soon after, as it was the cholera 
season, he and his family went to Barbizon, near the 
Forest of Fontainebleau. About this time he received 
the money for his picture of the Haymakers, and it 
came when it was much needed. 

At Barbizon Millet remained till his death in 1875. 
There he was once more among the simple peasant folk 



234 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

for whom his heart yearned, and there his best work 
was done. He lived a quiet, industrious life, finding 
joy in his family, in his work, and in his friends. 
He had fourteen children, of whom nine survived him, 
and he was their companion and friend always. He 
used to work in his little garden early in the morning, 
and after that he painted in his studio. Each day he 
went into the neighboring forest, often with his friend 
Rousseau, the landscape painter, and there made draw- 
ings of the men at work. He saw charcoal burners, 
qnarrymen, sawyers, stonebreakers, women making hay, 
and plowmen. His drawings of these peasants are full 
of life and movement, and the lines express dignity and 
power. He knew the earth, for he had turned it over, 
and he knew the pleasures and the sorrows of a peasant's 
life; and thus in his pictures the solid earth and the 
tillers of the earth are represented with a reality and 
an eloquence that is wonderful. 

Fortunately, Millet had some true friends at Barbi- 
zon, and they came to his aid in many times of want ; 
for he found it very difficult to earn money enough 
to provide for his large family of children. Pathetic 
pictures have been drawn by his biographers, describ- 
ing the artist as working when cold and hungry, try- 
ing to keep his family from starvation. But usually 
some friend appeared in time to relieve his suffering. 
Among his friends at Barbizon were Rousseau, Diaz, 
and William Morris Hunt, the American painter, who 
went there to live in order that he might be near 
Millet. These friends bought his pictures and induced 
other people to buy them, and in this way aided him. 

Millet once said, " I know nothing which is not a 



MILLET. 235 

direct impression from nature or from the forms of 
man," and his life at Barbizon was spent in recording 
such impressions in a poetic, forcible way. In a letter 
he said that he never saw the gay side of life ; but that 
the calm, the silence that is so sweet in the forest and 
field, was the gayest thing he knew. He saw in the 
life around him " true humanity and great poetry " ; 
and these two elements are ever present in his work. 

Among the best-known pictures by which Millet 
told the story of peasant life in all its phases are the 
Soiver, the Harvesters, the Gleaners, the Potato Gather- 
ers, the Angelas, and the Water Carrier. 

In the picture of the Sower we see the peasant scat- 
tering grain in the furrow as night comes on, while he 
is followed by eager birds. What a figure of strength 
and dignity he is, as, dressed in mean rags, he scatters 
broadcast the " bread of the morrow " ! The critics 
saw in the superb figure a threatening gesture and a 
protest against the misery of the workingman. French 
politics at this time appeared to be in a very critical 
condition, and this picture was considered dangerous, 
as suggesting too vividly the oppression of the poor. 
The Gleaners and the Man with a Hoe were also thought 
to be socialistic in sentiment, and these criticisms called 
forth from Millet the following words : 

" Socialistic ? Is it possible to admit that one may 
have some ideas in seeing a man gaining his bread by 
the sweat of his brow? Some tell me that I deny the 
charms of the country. I find more than charm, I find 
infinite glories. I see, as well as they do, the little 
flowers of which Christ said : ' Solomon in all his glory 
was not arrayed like one of these.' I see the halo of 



236 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

the dandelions, and of the sun also, which spreads out 
beyond the world its glory into the clouds. But I see 
as well, in the plain, the steaming horses at work, and 
in a rocky place, a man whose ' Haw ! Haw ! ' has 
been heard since morning, and who tries to straighten 
himself a moment to breathe. ... I reject with my 
whole soul democracy as it is known at the clubs; I 
have never dreamed of being a pleader in any cause , I 
am a peasant, a peasant ! " 

Nevertheless, Millet's works are full of sermons, high 
and true, the more deeply impressive as the artist was 
not trying to preach, but merely to paint the " true 
humanity and great poetry " that life revealed to him. 
By his work an element of spiritual grandeur, until 
then lacking, was added to French art. 

After seeing the Man with a Hoe, Edwin Markham 
wrote his remarkable poem with the same title, begin- 
ning thus : — 

" Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans 
Upon his hoe and gazes on the ground, 
The emptiness of ages in his face, 
And on his back the burden of the world." 

The Gleaners is most beautiful in tone and in har- 
mony of color. Three poor women, in the heat of the 
August day, gather the chance grains of wheat that the 
reapers have left behind, while afar the reapers heap 
the plentiful harvest into wagons. This work, as has 
been said, called forth many discussions ; but all the 
critics appreciated the simple grandeur of the composi- 
tion and the great beauty of the sky and field. All 
felt, too, its impressiveness and its power to express 




237 



238 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

the pathos of the poor peasant woman's life of toil and 
privation, 

Several of Millet's finest paintings were bought by 
Americans. The Soiver is in the collection of Mr. 
Quincy Shaw of Boston, the Harvesters was bought 
by Mr. Martin Brimmer of Boston, and the Potato 
Gatherers by Mr. Walters of Baltimore. The Harvest 
of Beans, in New York, deals with the peasant woman 
and her unremitting toil. The picture is doubly inter- 
esting, for the bean-gatherer is Millet's mother, and the 
cottage is his own home. Another picture of a similar 
character is the Water Carrier. The following are 
Millet's words in regard to the picture: "For the 
Water Carrier I did not wish to portray a servant, but 
a wife who has just drawn water with which to make 
her husband's soup. I wished to show her as accom- 
plishing with simplicity and willingness an act which is, 
witli her other household duties, an everyday part of 
her life." 

The best known of all Millet's pictures is the Angelus. 
The artist himself is said to have preferred it above 
all his other works. It was finished in 1859, and it ap- 
peared with seven other pictures of his at the Exposition 
Universelle at Paris in 1867. It remained for a time 
in the possession of Mr. Arthur Stevens. Then it was 
bought by the Belgian Minister, M. de Praet. It next 
appeared in the Wilson gallery, but was sold to the art 
dealer, M. Georges Petit, for $32,000. It was then pur- 
chased by M. Secretan, who sold it to the same dealer 
for $40,000, but rebought it at $60,000. In 1888, Mr. 
Rockefeller, of New York, offered $100,000 for it, It 
was taken to America, but on condition that it should 



MILLET. 239 

not remain there more than six months unless a duty of 
$35,000 was paid upon it. It is now in Paris, and will 
probably be placed eventually in the Louvre. 

The picture represents two figures, a man and a 
woman, who have stopped their labor to bow their 
heads reverently at the sound of the Angelus, — the 
evening bell that sounds from the village church spire, 
far across the level field. The most sincere and deep 
devotion is expressed in the figures of these two simple, 
laboring folk ; and the solemn hush, broken only by the 
sweet tones of the distant bell, seems an eloquent expres- 
sion of the very spirit of prayer. The picture is full of 
beauty and meaning, and shows peasant life in a noble 
phase, with its common labors and its devotion to duty 
brightened by religious hope. The landscape is very 
beautiful with the evening shadows falling over it, 
and the color and tone are exquisitely harmonious and 
in keeping with the sentiment of the picture. 

Two of Millet's landscapes at the Louvre are espe- 
cially interesting. One represents the little church at 
Greville, where he was baptized. This was among 
Millet's possessions at the time of his death, for he 
never felt that he had finished it to his satisfaction. 
He once said to a friend, " No, there is an impression of 
the scene, as it struck my imagination as a child, which 
I have not succeeded in rendering, but which I hope to 
get some day." 

In the other landscape at the Louvre, called Spring- 
time, a long, straight path leads through an apple 
orchard in full bloom. Beyond is a village with its 
thatched roofs appearing at the left, and at the back are 
trees on high land. A storm has just passed over, and 



2-40 SKETCHES OF GEEAT PAINTERS. 

a rainbow spans the heavens on the black storm cloud 
at the left and on the light clouds at the right. A few 
doves show white against the gloomy sky, and over the 
freshened trees and grass the sun is shining. It is 
truly marvelous that paint can show, so poetically and 
truthfully as this, a bit of the earth after a spring storm. 

The recognition of Millet's work was late in com- 
ing to him. At the Exposition Universelle in 1867 he 
was appreciated to a certain extent, for a number of his 
works were hung together and they made an impression 
because of their subdued color, their grandeur, simplic- 
ity, and beauty of sentiment. He was then awarded 
a first-class medal, and in 1808 he was made a cheva- 
lier of the Legion of Honor. 

Ten years after his death, a bronze tablet was placed 
on a rock at Barbizon at the entrance of the Forest of 
Fontainebleau. It contained in relief the bust portraits 
of Millet and his friend Rousseau, and was executed by 
the celebrated French sculptor, Henri Chapu. 



XX. SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 

1723-1792. 

In the early part of the eighteenth century a group 
of brilliant men used to meet, from time to time, at 
a London tavern called the " Turk's Head." They 
formed the " Literary Club," and Dr. Samuel Johnson 
was their president. Among the members of this round 
table were Edmund Burke, Oliver Goldsmith, and other 
distinguished literary men of the day, and a young 
artist of gracious manners and of great promise as a 
portrait painter. This was Joshua Reynolds, the tenth 
child of the Rev. Samuel Reynolds, who was then the 
director of the free grammar school at Plympton, near 
Plymouth. The artist was born at Plympton Earl, 
Devonshire, in 1723. 

When Joshua was old enough to go to school, his 
parents decided to educate him as a physician, and he 
began his studies with this end in view. But instead 
of studying his lessons, he spent his time in making 
sketches on his books, much to the annoyance of his 
parents and teachers. Several of these early drawings 
are in existence, and beside them are written notes by 
his father. One is commented on as follows, - — " Joshua 
did this in his class after a day of perfect idleness." 
The father did not realize then that these were serious 
efforts on the part of his son. Another note is interest- 
ing, as it shows that he was beginning to take pride in 
r 241 



242 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

the drawings. It reads, — " Not copied, but drawn 
from nature." 

It chanced that a treatise on painting fell into the 
boy's hands, and this book interested him so much that 
he determined to become a painter. When he was 
about thirteen years old, he made his first attempt at 
portrait painting. At the suggestion of his comrade, 
Richard Edgecnmbe, he began a portrait of Thomas 
Smart, tutor of Maker Church, representing him preach- 
ing. After the drawing had been made, the two 
boys, while wandering along the shore at Plymouth, 
found a piece of sailcloth, which the young Joshua 
converted into canvas for painting. On this the first 
president of the Royal Academy painted his first por- 
trait. 

When lie found how determined his son was to be- 
come a painter, Samuel Reynolds may have given his 
consent more readily because of the success Thomas 
Hudson, a Devonshire painter, was enjoying in London 
at the time. At all events, Joshua went to London in 
1740 and began to study under Hudson. It took some 
time, however, to arrange matters, for Hudson's terms 
were high, and the minister's income was small. 
Through the influence of a friend, Hudson was per- 
suaded to allow Reynolds to pay half his tuition at the 
time and the rest when he began his career as an artist. 

Although he had intended to remain with his master 
four years, owing to some disagreement during the sec- 
ond year Reynolds went to Plymouth Dock, now Dev- 
onport. There he opened a studio which was visited 
by people from all over the county. He received many 
orders for portraits, and after executing them he went 



SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 243 

to London again, where he met his former master on 
terms of friendship, and was introduced by him to the 
Artists' Club. Among the portraits that he painted 
at this time is that of the Gordon Family. 

In 1746, after staying two years in London, Reynolds 
was called back to Plymouth on account of the death of 
his father, who was a noble, earnest man, a type of the 
best country clergymen of the day. Unexpectedly 
Reynolds found at Plymouth a man who could teach 
him many things. This was William Gandy, a pupil 
of Van Dyck and a man of talent, though he was dissi- 
pated and indolent. Gandy 's advice to Reynolds about 
color was invaluable, and from that time his works were 
richer in tone, and he painted with more ease and free- 
dom. Three works, which show his growth after paint- 
ing the Gordon Family, are a Boy Reading, painted in 
1747, a portrait of Mrs. Field, and one of himself. He 
painted at least ten portraits of himself, the last, painted 
in 1789, being the most remarkable. 

Whenever Reynolds went to the country he made 
studies from nature which later served as backgrounds 
for his pictures; for he usually introduced picturesque 
scenery into portraits and into portrait groups, of which 
he painted so many. 

Like all painters, Reynolds had dreams of going to 
Italy, though he seemed unlikely to realize them, be- 
cause his means were so limited. Good fortune, how- 
ever, lay in store for him. At the house of Lord 
Edgecumbe, the friend of his boyhood, he met Admiral 
Keppel, then Captain Keppel, who was in charge of the 
squadron of the Mediterranean. Keppel became inter- 
ested in Reynolds, and knowing his desire to see the 



244 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

land of Raphael and Titian, invited him to go to Italy 
on his ship. They set sail in 1749, and Reynolds spent 
four years studying and copying the Italian masters. 
He used to work for hours in the Sistine Chapel, but 
he paid dearly for it, for, in the cold corridors of the 
Vatican, he caught a chill which resulted in deafness, 
so that he was obliged to use an ear trumpet for the 
rest of his life. One evening while he was at Venice, 
the orchestra at the opera played an English ballad. 
His eyes filled with tears, and so strong was his longing 
for home that the next day found him on his way to his 
native country. 

The works which belong to his Italian visit are not 
numerous, as he evidently spent more time in studying 
and copying than in painting original compositions. He 
carried back with him a Holy Family, and a number of 
caricatures that show another side of his nature and 
give an idea of some of the members of the English 
society then in Rome. 

On his return to London, Reynolds was recommended 
by Lord Edgecumbe to his friends, and his success was 
soon assured. In 1753 he painted the portraits of the 
three beautiful Misses Gunning. One of these, who 
became the Duchess of Hamilton, was so renowned 
for her beauty that when she entered even the Queen's 
drawing-room the courtiers stood on chairs and tables 
to get a glimpse of her. In the same year Reynolds 
painted one of his most important works, the portrait 
of Admiral Keppel. The success of this was so great 
that the nobility crowded to his studio, and from that 
time it was the ambition of every one of wealth and 
position to have his portrait painted by Reynolds. 




245 



246 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

At length Reynolds was able to buy a house in 
Leicester Square, where he went to live in 1760. There 
he entertained in an elegant manner many distinguished 
guests, among whom were some of the brightest literary 
men of his day, and to him the world is indebted for 
a series of strong portraits of them. So charming was 
his manner, and so gracious was he to every one, that 
even Dr. Johnson, who was characteristically rude, was 
only once discourteous to him. Boswell, Johnson's 
friend and companion, says that on this occasion Rey- 
nolds reminded the doctor of his rudeness by a few 
dignified words, so that he blushed and apologized. 
Johnson had a warm appreciation of his friend the 
artist, and they had many long discussions. At such 
times, when the learned doctor became too dogmatic 
and intolerant, Reynolds would lay down his ear trum- 
pet and devote his attention to his snuff box. Gold- 
smith refers to this in his poem, " Retaliation," in these 
words, — 

" He shifted his trumpet and only took snuff." 

Reynolds loved a social life, and it was his habit to 
arrange his day so that he might spend some of it 
among his friends. He rose early, entered his studio 
at ten, and worked on unfinished pictures until eleven, 
when his first sitter came. He then painted till four ; 
but after that he dressed for the evening, which he 
devoted to society. Sometimes he had six models 
during the day, and at the height of his power he 
painted a portrait in four hours. 

Unfortunately many of Reynolds's pictures have 
faded and cracked, and in fact they suffered much 



SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 247 

before his death. This was due to his method of laying 
on colors mixed with varnish to form a sort of glazing. 
The artist knew and regretted this weakness in his 
work, and after vain efforts to prevent the cracking, he 
consoled himself by saying, " All good painting cracks." 
Many of his pictures have also been injured by efforts to 
clean or restore them. 

In 1761 Reynolds painted his celebrated portrait of 
David Garrick, the great actor, represented as hesitat- 
ing between Comedy and Tragedy. It was fortunate for 
Reynolds that Garrick was interested in this portrait 
and did not prove so trying a sitter as Gainsborough 
found him. It is said that when Garrick posed for the 
latter artist, whom lie did not like, he changed his 
expression every few minutes. As his range of facial 
expressions was marvelous, it was difficult work for 
the artist, who at length became so exasperated with 
his sitter that he threw down his brushes, crying out, 
" I am used to painting portraits of men ; I cannot paint 
the portrait of a devil." 

Twenty years later, Sir Joshua painted one of his 
most celebrated portraits, Mrs. Siddons as the Muse of 
Tragedy, which is now in the possession of the Duke of 
Westminster. The great actress had been called the 
" Tragic Muse " by a writer of the day, and this sug- 
gested to Sir Joshua the idea for his picture. She is 
represented as seated in a great chair in the form of a 
throne. Behind her in the background stand two 
shadowy forms, emblems of Crime and Remorse. 
These figures add nothing to the composition, but 
the actress herself attracts all the attention. The first 
time that Mrs. Siddons went to pose for her portrait, 



248 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

Sir Joshua led her to the model stand, saying, " Ascend 
the throne, which is incontestably yours, and suggest to 
me the Muse of Tragedy." She mounted it and then 
took the attitude shown in the portrait. Sir Joshua, 
always graceful in manner and in speech, made one of 
his happiest compliments when he finished this picture. 
When the actress went to the studio for her last sitting, 
she found the artist's name written as a line of embroid- 
ery along her robe. When Sir Joshua saw her look at 
it, he bowed graciously and said, " I could not lose this 
opportunity to hand my name down to posterity on the 
hem of your garment." 

Reynolds was the first president of the Royal Acad- 
emy, founded by George III. in 1768. Its object was 
to hold annual exhibitions for the sale of works by 
its members, and to maintain art schools open to stu- 
dents of good character who were well grounded in the 
rudiments of art. He held this position for twenty- 
one years, and was knighted by the king, an honor 
bestowed on all succeeding presidents of the society. 
For seven }^ears he delivered to the society annually 
a discourse on art. These form an interesting vol- 
ume, containing the results of his profound and 
appreciative studies of the Italian masters. It was 
hinted that Burke and Johnson aided him in this 
work ; but doubters were silenced by Dr. Johnson, 
who, when questioned on the subject, said, " Oh, yes, 
I am equally the author of his discourses and his 
paintings." 

Each year Sir Joshua sent pictures to the exhibition 
at the Royal Academy, in all nearly one hundred and 
fifty works. These were mostly portraits, but there 



SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 249 

were other works also, such as the Strawberry Grirl, 
belonging now to Sir Richard Wallace, the Fortune 
Teller, the Adoration of the Magi, copied in stained 
glass for a window in the College at Oxford, and 
Mrs. Pelham Feeding Chickens. 

Sir Joshua painted a few religious pictures and a 
number on mythological themes, but they are far 
inferior to his portraits. The larger part of his works 
are in private galleries, but the National Gallery and 
the Grosvenor Gallery contain some of his strongest 
portraits. 

In 1773 Sir Joshua was much gratified by being 
appointed Mayor of Plympton. Shortly after the 
event he met the king walking at Hampton Court, 
and the latter congratulated him on his appointment. 
Sir Joshua replied, "No honor in the world could have 
given me more pleasure." Fortunately he remembered 
at once the title recently conferred on him by the 
king, and hastened to add, " except that conferred on 
me by your Majesty." 

Sir Joshua worked on without interruption until 
1781, when he made a journey to the Netherlands. The 
next year his work was again interrupted by a slight 
attack of paralysis, from which he soon rallied so that 
he was able to go again to the Netherlands. The record 
of his travels and of his impressions of the country and 
its art was published under the title of a "Journey to 
Flanders and Holland." For seven years after his 
return he continued to paint, till another attack of 
paralysis affected his eyes so much that he could 
work no more. He continued his relations with the 
Royal Academy till 1790, when he sent in his resigna- 



250 



SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 



tion. In the early part of 1792 he died at London, 
after an illness of three months. He was buried in 




Reynolds. 



The Angel Choir. 



St. Paul's Cathedral, near the tomb of Sir Christopher 
Wren. 

Sir Joshua Re}*nolds had the power of expressing on 



SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 251 

canvas the charm, the grace, and the true character 
of his subject, whether man, woman, or child. What 
a series of portraits he has bequeathed to the world ! 
What elegance, nobility, and distinguished grace are 
found in them ! Although he lived in a society with 
conventional and affected manners, his portraits usually 
have the charm of simplicity, and always possess true 
dignity. Among his portraits of men, those of Admiral 
Keppel, Dr. Johnson, Goldsmith, Boswell, Garrick, and 
Lord Heathfield show what power he had in seizing 
character. The portrait of Lord Heathfield was pur- 
chased by Parliament in 1824, and it is one of Sir Joshua's 
finest works. It represents the hero during the defense 
of Gibraltar, firmly grasping the key of the fortress. 
In the background is the rock, the key to the Mediter- 
ranean, with the smoke of the artillery on it recalling 
the admiral's victory. 

Of Sir Joshua's portraits of women, that of Mrs. Sid- 
dons is perhaps his greatest. He painted portraits of 
several of the famous beauties of the day. His picture 
of a certain Nelly O'Brien has been called the English 
Mona Lisa, and he has immortalized the charms of 
Kitty Fisher and many a duchess. His portrait of 
mothers with their children are especially charming. 
Among them are the beautiful Duchess of Devon- 
shire and her Child and Lady Cockburn and her 
Children. 

The well-known Angel Choir consists of five studies 
from the head of one exquisite child, the daughter 
of Lord William Gordon. It is hard to imagine a 
picture painted with more tenderness of touch or 
with more appreciation of the sweet and innocent 



252 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

grace of childhood. Sir Joshua's pictures of children 
have been greatly admired, and the Infant Samuel, 
the Age of Innocence, Simplicity, the Strawberry Girl, 
and Penelope Boothby form a charming group of little 
people. 



XXI. TURNER. 

1775-1851. 

Foe many years there was a certain barber's shop in 
Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, kept by William Turner. 
Though this is not a very attractive part of London, 
all sorts of clients went to the shop, and they dis- 
cussed various subjects, as men will. One day as they 
were talking of art, the barber surprised them all by 
saying, "My son will be a painter some day." He lived 
to realize the truth of his prophecy, for his son, James 
William Mallord Turner, became the greatest of Eng- 
lish landscape painters. 

Turner was born in 1775, in the house connected 
with the barber's shop. He was soon deprived of his 
mother's care, for she became mentally deranged and 
was sent to an asylum. His father was a kindly man 
and ambitious for his son, whom he sent to school at 
Brentford, and afterward at Margate. But the boy 
did not learn readily, and his powers of expression by 
both written and spoken words were limited throughout 
his life. He found, however, other means of expressing 
with marvelous power the glories of the sky and sea, 
which nature seemed to reveal to him more completely 
than to others. 

The little motherless boy, left to a father too busy to 
take care of him during the long days, wandered about 
the neighborhood, interested in all that he saw. Ruskin 
253 



254 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

gives a charming picture of the boy, as he went in and 
out of the shipping on the river, fascinated by the sails 
and the sailors, and gaining those impressions of ships, 
of the sky, and the water under all aspects that it was 
the work of his after life to express. Unfortunately, 
while he was crouching in the bows of the boats and 
associating with the sailors, the boys about the bridges, 
and all the river-side folk, he became familiar with 
wretchedness, coarseness, and impurity, and the taint 
of these early experiences remained with him always. 
With all his grandeur of soul and high endeavor in 
his art, he had low tastes that he never conquered. 

Turner began, when he was a mere lad, to work 
seriously at making sketches in water color. These 
he exhibited in his father's shop window, and he suc- 
ceeded in selling a number of them. He also copied 
many of the pictures of Paul Sanby, a popular water- 
color painter of the day, gaining instruction from the 
work as well as a little money from the sale of his copies. 
He also colored engravings of landscapes, an art much 
in vogue at that time in England. The happiest mo- 
ments of Turner's youth were spent in this work, for 
he and Thomas Girtin, his dearest friend, painted side 
by side, enjoying a most helpful intercourse. Girtin 
died at the age of twenty-seven, and Turner lost one of 
the very few friends of his life, one whom he cordially 
admired and believed to be much more skillful than 
himself. 

Another occupation engaged Turner's attention for a 
time. He was employed to paint skies in architectural 
drawings. The architect for whom he worked recog- 
nized in him a youth of promise, too talented to waste 



TURNER. 255 

his time in doing such work, and he advised him to 
study at the Royal Academy. Turner took this advice, 
and when he was fifteen years old he began to exhibit 
at the Academy, though he was still a student. At 
that time he often painted palaces and their surround- 
ings, similar to the work done by Ruisdael in Holland. 
His first exhibit at the Academy was a picture of this 
kind, the Palace of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Eight 
years later his picture of the old feudal castle of Nor- 
ham added much to his reputation, as he himself 
declared many years after. In the course of a jour- 
ney to the north of England, he and his companion 
arrived at Norham, and when Turner saw the imposing 
old ruin, he took off his hat and saluted it. His com- 
panion expressed surprise, and Turner replied, " A long 
time ago I painted a picture of Norham, which was a 
success, and I have never since been in want of work." 
At eighteen Turner began to travel in England, and 
throughout his life he spent much of his time traveling. 
He made a very simple matter of it ; he went alone, 
carried no baggage, and often journeyed on foot. He 
was totally indifferent to appearances and to the opinions 
of other travelers. As he could put up with all sorts 
of discomforts and inconveniences, he was always ready 
for work, and could make his sketches amid storm and 
wind. His pictures are the only records he left of these 
experiences, for he had no friends at home to whom he 
sent news of his wanderings. He painted many of the 
cathedrals, castles, bridges, and ruins of England. 
Though he painted the mountains, the torrents, and 
the sea, he rarely painted nature pure and simple. It 
has been said that man's labor and sorrow, the hope- 



256 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

lessness and melancholy of life, are interwoven in all 
his works, and are ever the theme of them. 

In 1799 Turner became an associate member of the 
Academy, and three years later he was made an Acade- 
mician. It is a custom in England, when a painter is 
elected a member of the Royal Academy, for him to 
make visits of ceremony on the older and more distin- 
guished members. But Turner did not propose to do 
anything of the sort. " Why," said he, " should I 
thank the members of the Academy ? If they did not 
like my pictures, why did they elect me ? " 

About this time there seemed to be a marked change 
in Turner's work. His early pictures were painted with 
almost prosaic fidelity, and the influence of Claude 
Lorraine was very marked in his work. But at length 
he began to paint with the greatest freedom and power. 
Though he seemed to be so little influenced by his 
education, he imbibed from somewhere a true feeling 
for classic mythology and history, and the spirit of 
poetry seemed to breathe her spell over his work. 

To the middle period of Turner's career, beginning 
in 1802, belong his greatest pictures. Never had land- 
scape painter before him dealt with such a vast range 
of subjects. Through his works can be seen the pic- 
turesque beauties of England, Scotland, Switzerland, 
Italy, the Rhine, and the rivers of France. Scenes from 
history and mythology were represented by him in su- 
perb settings and with an appreciation of their meaning. 
Besides all this, he made many illustrations for books, 
among them being Rogers's "Italy" and his "Poems." 
He also made a series of illustrations called the Rivers 
of France, and many pictures for books on England. 



TURNEK. 257 

Turner was strongly influenced by Claude Lorraine in 
many things, and his " Liber Studiorum " was compiled 
in direct imitation of Claude's " Liber Veritatis." The 
" Liber Studiorum " is a book of studies, represent- 
ing scenes in various parts of the world, designed to 
illustrate the principles of composition as applied to 
landscape painting. It was begun in 1807, and was 
continued irregularly until 1819. Turner intended 
that the book should consist of one hundred plates, but 
only seventy-one were published. The water-color 
drawings, from which over fifty of the plates were 
made, are now in the National Gallery. 

Between 1790, when he first began to exhibit at the 
Academy, and 1802, when he became a member, Turner 
exhibited seventy-three pictures, and during this time 
forty-four engravings were made from his works. 
These facts show how productive he had been, and how 
great an interest his pictures had excited. Throughout 
his life he worked incessantly, making multitudes of 
sketches, of which he took little care, rolling them up 
in his pocket or tucking them away in any odd corner. 
He was rewarded for his industry, for every year he 
grew more masterly and his imagination had freer play. 

Turner's works imiy be roughly grouped into his 
pictures representing the scenery of England, Italy, 
Switzerland, and the Rhine ; mythological and historical 
subjects ; and ships at sea. 

Among the English scenes are those of the cathedrals 
and castles, which he painted in the early part of his 
career, and two beautiful pictures dealing with simple 
themes. These are Crossing the Brook and the Frosty 
Sunrise. The former represents the region 




258 



TURNER. 259 

about Plymouth, the part of his country that charmed 
him most. The latter is remarkable for the harmony 
of the color and for the way in which the painter has 
represented the frost in the air and on the ground. 

The Bay of Baiae is one of the finest of Turner's 
Italian pictures. It shows the castle of Baiae on the 
right, and Apollo and the Sibyl seated in the pine shade 
at the left. The old myth says that the Sibyl, who was 
in love with the sun-god, besought him to bestow the 
gift of long life on her. He granted her the power to 
live as many years as she held grains of sand in her 
hands; but as she did not also ask for perpetual youth, she 
wasted away year by year, until only her voice was left. 
Tradition says it still haunts the cave near this bay, one 
of the most picturesque and beautiful spots in all Italy. 

Among other pictures of Italy are Childe Harold's 
Pilgrimage, the Temple of Minerva, and Ancient Italy. 
The Golden Bough and many of his Venetian scenes 
belong to his last years. They contain a fantastic 
element owing to the indefiniteness of the forms and 
the strangeness of the color, which suggest the unreality 
and beauty of a vision. 

Many a picturesque scene in Europe was represented 
by Turner with poetic appreciation of its beauties. 
Such are the pictures of Cologne and Heidelberg. He 
also painted ancient cities, either in their fallen gran- 
deur or in the days of their greatness. 

The G-arden of Hesperides is one of the best of Tur- 
ner's pictures on mythological subjects. It represents 
the fabled garden among the western isles, where Hes- 
perus and his three fair daughters dwelt. In this 
garden is represented the tree, bearing golden apples, 



260 SKETCHES OE GREAT PAINTERS. 

which was the wedding gift of the earth to Juno. In 
the center, on the top of a lofty rock, lies the dragon 
surrounded by fire and whirlwind, who guards forever 
the garden and the precious fruit. The goddess of dis- 
cord, who was angered at not being invited to the 
wedding feast of Peleus and Thetis, is represented as 
receiving from one of the Hesperides the apple marked 
" for the fairest," which proved to be the firebrand that 
set fire to Troy. 

The Apollo and Python of 1811 is one of Turner's 
most splendid works. The conception of the Python, 
that dragon which devastated all the vicinity of Delphi, 
is grand, and so is the rocky landscape in which the 
encounter takes place. Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus 
was painted some years later, and is another picture 
with the true spirit of the Greek legend in it. Ulysses, 
having put out the one eye of the giant Polyphemus, 
sets off from the shore in his magnificent ship, leaving 
him to rage in agony on the top of the cliff. Smoke 
still rises from the fire in which was heated the staff 
that put out the monster's eye. The ship is sailing off 
in the early morning, and the whole picture is aglow 
with the golden and crimson light of the rising sun. 
The picture shows Turner's power as a colorist and as 
a painter of the splendor of the sky. He was a Prome- 
theus among painters, for, like the mighty giant of old 
who lighted his torch at the chariot of the Sun, lie was 
the first who dared to snatch the fiery gorgeousness of 
sunrise and sunset and transfer them to his canvas. 

Carthage seemed to have a great fascination for Tur- 
ner, and he painted a number of pictures of the won- 
derful city. Dido Building Carthage is the finest of 



262 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

them all. He felt that this picture was worthy to rank 
with Claude Lorraine's superb seaports, for by the pro- 
visions of his will it was to be placed beside one of 
Claude's in the National Gallery. The Sun Rising in a 
Mist was left with the same conditions. 

No account of Turner's work would be complete 
without mention of his ships, the companions of his 
boyhood, as he wandered beneath London Bridge at all 
hours, watching the changing aspects of the river and 
the play of light on the sails and the dark hulls. He 
painted ships upon ships, — those that had fought and 
won, those that had been vanquished, and the fishing 
boats sailing peacefully on river and sea. 

Trafalgar, or the Death of Nelson, painted in 1805, 
represents the battle as seen from Lord Nelson's ship, 
the " Victory." To the right is the " Redoubtable," and 
beyond is the " Temeraire." Nelson has just been carried 
down from the quarter deck, having been struck by a 
shot fired from the mast of the "Redoubtable." 

The Fighting Temeraire was painted in 1839. This 
old warship that had seen the battle of Trafalgar was 
sold out of the service in 1838, and was taken to Roth- 
erhithe to be broken up. As the " Temeraire " is being 
towed by a little black tug to its last berth, the sun 
illumines the scene Avith the utmost splendor, making 
a fitting farewell to the brave old ship. 

A stirring picture called the Shipwreck represents a 
huge wreck laboring in the distance. Crowds of human 
beings still cling to it, while several fishing boats are 
struggling with the raging sea and striving to reach 
the disabled ship and rescue the unfortunate people. 

The first lines that Turner ever quoted beneath a 



TURNER. 263 

picture express what he seemed ever striving to paint 
in his pictures. They are the following from " Para- 
dise Lost," placed beneath a picture of Coniston Fells : — 

" Ye mists and exhalations that now rise 
From hill or streaming lake, dusky or gray, 
Till the sun paints yon fleecy clouds with gold, 
In honor to the world's great author, rise ! " 

It was partly because of the neglect of his country- 
men that Kembrandt's life was shrouded in mystery; but 
Turner took every means in his power to prevent his 
life from being known. He had a home in London, at 
47 Queen Anne Street, and a country house as well. 
His London house was so neglected that, for want of a 
little repairing of the roof, his pictures suffered a good 
deal from dampness. He kept many of his works in a 
gallery in his house, for he seems to have had in mind 
a large collection of his pictures as a permanent memo- 
rial of himself after his death. Perhaps he cared for 
posthumous fame, even if he wished to live apart from 
the world. So anxious was he to hide his life that he 
often lived under an assumed name, and at the time of 
his death he was living thus in a miserable attic. 

Fortunately, Turner had some pleasant characteristics 
to offset his unattractive qualities as a recluse, his mi- 
serly habits, and his morose nature with its melancholy 
and hopelessness. He had a strong love for his father, 
whom he invited to live with him as soon as he could, 
and many stories are told which show his kindness of 
heart. In 1826 he sent to the Academy his celebrated 
picture of Cologne. It was full of light and brilliant 
color, and when placed between two portraits by Sir 



264 SKETCHES OF GREAT PAINTERS. 

Thomas Lawrence, one of the great English portrait 
painters, it completely eclipsed them. When Turner 
discovered how unhappy his brother artist was over the 
unfortunate circumstance, he went over his picture with 
a water-color wash and darkened it. His friends remon- 
strated with him, but he replied that after the exhibition 
he could wash it off. 

At another time Turner took down one of his own 
pictures in order to hang in its place that of an artist 
who was not well known. He sometimes took peculiar 
ways of showing a kindness. One day when he and a 
friend were drawing from nature, his friend became 
puzzled over a colored sketch he was making. Turner 
saw his difficulty, and at last said, " I haven't any 
paper that suits me, let me take yours." He disap- 
peared, but soon returned and threw down the paper, 
saying, " I can't make anything out of your paper." 
There were, however, three sketches on it, so arranged 
that they showed the process of coloring and cleared 
away all the difficulties that had beset the young 
artist. 

Though miserly, Turner knew how to be generous, as 
is shown by this particularly characteristic story. A 
photographer, who afterward became very successful, 
was in great financial straits. As soon as his condition 
became known to an old gentleman who often visited 
his shop, the latter offered to lend him -f 1500 without 
interest. When he returned the money to his unknown 
benefactor, the photographer accidentally discovered 
that he had been indebted to Turner. 

When Turner died, his will provided that his pic- 
tures should be given to the National Gallery ; he also 



TURNER. 265 

left a large sum of money for the foundation of a home 
for poor artists, under the name of " Turner's Gift," 
and money for a monument in St. Paul's Cathedral. 
The first part of the will was carried out, but the 
money intended for the charitable institution, after a 
long legal process, was given to Turner's relatives. 



A LIST OF IMPORTANT WORKS BY THE 
PAINTERS TREATED IN THIS VOLUME. 

Note. — The most interesting pictures are marked with stars in order to 
aid in making collections of photographs. In this work the fancy may he 
the guide, or some plan may be followed. For instance, a collection might 
consist of portraits of artists painted by themselves, or portraits of men, 
women, or children. Some subject treated by many painters might be 
chosen, such as the Madonna, the Nativity, the Flight into Egypt, the 
Presentation of the Virgin, the Annunciation, the Marriage of the Virgin, 
the Marriage of St. Catherine, the Entombment, the Coronation of the 
Virgin, the Adoration of the Magi, the Immaculate Conception, the Cruci- 
fixion, etc. ; and all the pictures on the subject gathered together and 
arranged chronologically. Interesting collections of pictures on mytho- 
logical or historical subjects, of landscapes, marines, and genre pictures 
might also be made. 

The principal galleries, buildings, and places referred to in the list are 
as follows: — In Italy: Uffizi Gallery, Pitti Palace, Academy, Convent of 
San Marco, Church of Santa Croce, at Florence; Vatican, Sistine Cbapel, 
Borghese Gallery, at Rome ; the Brera Gallery at Milan ; the Academy and 
the Ducal Palace at Venice ; Parma, Naples. In France : the Louvre at 
Paris. In England: the National Gallery at London. In Germany: 
Dresden; Berlin; Munich. In Austria: Vienna. In Spain: the Prado at 
Madrid; Seville. In Belgium: Antwerp; Brussels; Ghent; Bruges. In 
Holland : Amsterdam. 

The references are to pages in this volume. 

GIOTTO. 

Note. — Giotto's Arena Chapel frescoes, dealing with all the great themes 
of Italian art mentioned above, and many more, are interesting to study in 
connection with pictures on the same subjects by artists who followed him. 

*Joachim Retiring to the Sheepfold. Arena Chapel, Padua, pp. 

9, 10. 
*Entombment. Arena Chapel, Padua, p. 11. 

*Life of St. Francis of Assisi. Church of Santa Croce, Florence ; 
Academy, Florence ; Assisi, p. 6. 
Life of Christ. Academy, Florence, p. 8. 
267 



268 A LIST OF IMPORTANT WORKS. 

Life of St. John the Baptist. Peruzzi Chapel, Church of Santa 

Croce. 
Life of St. John the Evangelist. Peruzzi Chapel, Church of Santa 
Croce. 
*Coronation of the Virgin. Medici Chapel, Church of Santa Croce, 

pp. 11, 1:3. 
*Saints. Bardi Chapel, Church of Santa Croce. 
*Portrait of Dante. Bargello, Chapel of the Podesta, Florence, 
p. 16. 

FRA ANGELICO. 

*Madonna of the Great Tabernacle. Ufhzi, pp. 20, 21, 27. Angel 

from, p. 21. 
*Madonna della Stella. San Marco, p. 27. 

Madonna. Academy, Florence. 
*Coronation of the Virgin. Academy, Florence ; Louvre ; San 
Marco, p. 26 ; Uffizi, pp. 20, 22. 

Crucifixion. San Marco, pp. 24, 25 ; Academy, Florence ; Fiesole, 
Italy. 
*Annunciation. San Marco ; Cortona, Italy, pp. 26, 27. 

Christ in the Garden. San Marco, p. 26. 
*Last Judgment. Academy, Florence, pp. 23, 27. 
*Christ and Prophets. Orvieto, Italy, p. 28. 

Adoration of the Kings. San Marco, pp. 26, 27. 

Frescoes in Chapel of Nicholas V. Vatican, pp. 28, 29. 

Sacristy Doors of the Annunziata. Academy, Florence, p. 22. 

St. Peter Martyr. Cloister, San Marco, p. 24. 
*IIospitality. Cloister, San Marco, p. 25. 

LEONARDO DA VINCI. 

*Last Supper. Convent of Madonna della Grazia, Milan, pp. 37, 

38, 39. 
*Angels in Baptism of Christ by Verrocchio. Academy, Florence, 

pp. 32, 33, 34. 
* Virgin of the Rocks. National Gallery; Louvre, pp. 40, 44. 
*Virgin in the Lap of St. Anne. Attributed to Leonardo. Louvre, 

pp. 42, 43. 
St. John. Louvre. Attributed to Leonardo. 



A LIST OF IMPORTANT WORKS. 269 

*Portrait of Himself. Uffizi. 

*Mona Lisa. Louvre, pp. 41-45. 

*Lucrezia Crevelli, La Belle Ferronniere. Louvre, p. 39. 

Battle for the Standard. Drawing by Rubens, p. 41. 

Bacchus. Attributed to Leonardo. Louvre. 

Medusa. Attributed to Leonardo. Uffizi, p. 34. 

Christ, Head of. Drawing, pp. 38, 39. 

MICHELANGELO. 

*Holy Family of Agnoli Doni. Uffizi, p. 52. 

Taunton Madonna. National Gallery. 

Entombment. National Gallery. 
*The frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, pp. 53-59. 

The Last Judgment. Sistine Chapel, pp. 59-62. 

RAPHAEL. 

*Madonna of the Grand Duke. Pitti Palace, p. 66. 

Madonna del Foligno. Vatican. 
*Madonna of the Goldfinch. Uffizi, p. 66. 
*Madonna of the Diadem. Louvre. 

Madonna of the Meadow. Vienna. 
*Madonna of the Chair. Pitti Palace, p. 67. 

Madonna of the Terra Nuova. Berlin. 

Madonna di Casa Colonna. Berlin. 

Madonna del Baldacchino. Pitti Palace, p. 66. 
*Sistine Madonna. Dresden, pp. 66, 75-77. 
*La Belle Jardiniere. Louvre, p. 66. 

Crucifixion. Collection of Earl Dudley, England, p. 65. 

St. George. Louvre, p. 65. 

St. Michael. Louvre, p. 65. 

Marriage of the Virgin. Brera, Milan, p. 65. 
*Portrait of Himself. Uffizi, pp. 73, 74. 
*Julius II. Pitti Palace, p. 74. 
*Leo X. Pitti Palace, p. 74. 

*Violin Player. Sciarra Colonna Gallery, Rome, p. 74. 
* Jeanne of Aragon. Louvre, p. 74. 

Count Castiolione. Louvre. 



270 A LIST OF IMPORTANT WORKS. 

*Frescoes, at the Vatican, pp. 68-71 ; at St. Maria della Pace, Rome, 

pp. 72, 74. 
*Cartoons for Sistine Tapestries, South Kensington Museum, Eng- 
land, pp. 71, 72. 
*St. Cecilia. Bologna, Italy, p. 76. 
*Transfiguration. Vatican, pp. 76, 78. 
The Vision of Ezekiel. Pitti Palace, p. 76. 
Entombment. Borghese Gallery, Rome. 
Galatea, Farnesina Palace, p. 72. 

CORREGGIO. 

Frescoes in the Church of St. John the Evangelist. Parma, 
pp. 80, 81. 

Frescoes in the Cathedral of Parma, pp. 81, 82. 
*Diana. Fresco in Convent of San Paolo, Parma, p. 80. 

Madonna. Uffizi. 

Madonna of St. Francis. Altarpiece, Dresden, p. 80. 
*Madonna of St. Sebastian. Altarpiece, Dresden, p. 82. 
*Madonna della Scodella (Cup). Parma, p. 82. 

La Zingarella. Naples, p. 80. 
*Holy Night. Dresden. Frontispiece, p. 82. 
*I1 Giorno (Day). Academy, Parma, p. 82. 

Holy Family with Basket. National Gallery. 

Magdalen. Dresden, p. 85. 

Noli me Tangere (Touch me not). Madrid, p. 85. 

Ecce Homo! (Behold the man !). National Gallery, p. 85. 

Repose in Egypt. Uffizi. 
*Marriage of St. Catherine. Louvre, pp. 82, 83, 84, 85. 

Jupiter and Antiope. Louvre, p. 85. 

Mercury, Venus, and Cupid. National Gallery, p. 85. 

Danae. Borghese Gallery. *Cupids Sharpening Arrows, from, 



p. 85. 



TITIAN. 



*Entombment. Louvre, p. 96. 

*Presentation of the Virgin. Academy, Venice, pp. 89, 90. 

*Assumption of the Virgin. Academy, Venice, pp. 94, 95, 102. 

Pesaro Madonna. Church of the Frari, Venice, p. 98. 
*Tribute Money. Dresden, p. 89. 



A LIST OF IMPORTANT WOEKS. 271 

Magdalen. Pitti Palace, p. 96. 

Noli me Tangere. National Gallery. 
*St. Christopher. Fresco at Ducal Palace, Venice, pp. 96, 97. 
*Portrait of Himself. Uffizi. 
*Charles V. Madrid, p. 99. 
*Francis I. Louvre, p. 99. 

Philip II. Madrid. 

Lavinia. Berlin, p. 101. 
♦Bella. Uffizi, p. 100. 

Pietro Aretino. Pitti Palace, p. 99. 

Catherine Cornaro. Dresden, p. 98. 
*Man with a Glove. Louvre, p. 100. 

*Laura di Diante and Alphonse of Ferrara. Louvre, p. 92. 
*Sacred and Profane Love. Borghese Gallery, p. 92. 

Danae. Naples, p. 90. 

Venus. Dresden ; Uffizi, p. 90. 
*Flora. Uffizi, pp. 91, 92. 

Bacchus and Ariadne. National Gallery, p. 90. 

VERONESE. 

♦Madonna and Two Saints. Academy, Venice, p. 104. 
♦Coronation of the Virgin. Venice, p. 104. _ 
♦Marriage at Cana. Louvre, p. 107. 

Feast at the House of Levi. Academy, Venice, p. 108. 
♦Feast at the House of Simon. Louvre, p. 110. 
♦Supper at Emmaus. Louvre, p. 112. 

Story of Esther. Louvre, p. 104. 
♦St. Helene, or the Origin of the Cross. National Gallery, p. 112. 
♦Series of allegorical pictures at the Ducal Palace, Venice, pp. 109, 
111. 

Series of Allegories. National Gallery, p. 112. 
♦Rape of Europa. Ducal Palace, pp. 109, 111. 

Family of Darius. National Gallery, p. 112. 
♦Triumph of Venice. Ducal Palace, p. 111. 
♦Portrait of Himself. Uffizi. 
♦Girl in Black. Louvre, pp. 106, 112. 

Portrait of Family of Veronese. Dresden, p. 112. 
♦Portrait of his Wife. Pitti Palace, p. 112. 



272 A LIST OF IMPORTANT WORKS. 

HUBERT AND JAN VAN EYCK. 
Triumph of the Catholic Chm*ch. Altarpiece, Madrid, p. 122. 
Virgin and St. Donatus. Bruges, Belgium. 
*Virgin Reading. Madrid, p. 122. 
*Madonna and Donor. Louvre, pp. 114-110. 
*ilead of Christ. Berlin ; Bruges, p. 123. 
*Jean Arnolfini and his Wife. National Gallery, p. 123. 
Altarpiece of St. Bavon, consisting of : 
*Adoration of the Lamb. Church of St. Bavon, Ghent, pp. 118, 
119. 
The Deity. Church of St. Bavon, Ghent, p. 118. 
The Virgin. Church of St. Bavon, Ghent. 
St. John. Church of St. Bavon, Ghent. 
*St. Cecilia and Playing Angels. Berlin, p. 121. 
*Singing Choir. Berlin. 
*Angel of the Annunciation. Berlin. 
Virgin. Berlin. 
St. John the Baptist. Berlin. 
St. John the Evangelist. Berlin. 
*Just Judges and Soldiers of Christ. Berlin, p. 118. 

Holy Pilgrims and Holy Anchorites. Berlin. 
*Judocus Vyts and Elizabeth Vyts, Donors. Berlin, p. 118. 
Adam and Eve. Brussels, p. 120. 

RUBENS. 

*Raisingof the Cross. Antwerp, p. 120. 
*Descent from the Cross. Antwerp, pp. 129-132. 

Adoration of the Magi. Louvre. 

Communion of St. Francis of Assisi. Antwerp. 

Appearance of the Virgin to St. Ildefonso. Munich, p. 132. 
*Holy Family of St. George. Antwerp, p. 127. 

Christ Mounting to Calvaiy. Brussels, p. 132. 
*St. Cecilia. Berlin, p. 135. 

Last Judgment. Munich, p. 132. 
*Baron de Vicq. Louvre, p. 131. 
*Lady of Family of Boonen. Louvre, p. 134. 

Helena Fourment and her Two Children. Louvre. 
*The Straw Hat. National Gallery, pp. 127, 134. 



A LIST OF IMPORTANT WORKS. 273 

Rubens, Helena Fourment, and Child. Blenheim, England, p. 133. 
Rubens and his Wife. Munich. 
Rubens's Daughter. Louvre. 

Rubens 's Two Sons. Lichtenstein Gallery, Vienna. 
Marie de' Medici series. Louvre, p. 132. 
*Children with Fruit and Flowers. Munich, p. 132. 
Children. Berlin, p. 132. 

VAN DYCK. 

*Syndic Meerstaten. Cassel, Germany, p. 140. 

Cardinal Bentivoglio. Pitti Palace, p. 139. 

Man and Child. Louvre. 
*Woman and Child. Louvre. 

Equestrian Portrait of Francois de Monaco. Louvre. 
*Charles I. and Henrietta Maria. Pitti Palace, p. 142 ; Windsor 

Castle, England. 
*Children of Charles I. Berlin; *Turin, Italy, p. 142; Amster- 
dam ; Louvre. 
*Portrait of Himself and the Count of Bristol. Madrid, p. 142. 

Portrait of Himself. Uffizi ; Louvre; Munich. 
*Charles I. Dresden ; *Louvre, p. 142 ; Vienna ; Windsor Castle, 
England ; St. Petersburg, Russia. 

Prince Rupert of the Rhine. Vienna, p. 142. 
*Gervartius. National Gallery, p. 143. 

The Princess of Orange. Madrid. 

St. Rosalia. Vienna. 

Madonna and Donors. Louvre, p. 143. 

Madonna and Partridges. St. Petersburg, p. 143. 

Madonna of St. Hermann. Vienna. 

Holy Family. Munich, p. 143. 
*Repose in Egypt. Munich, pp. 143, 144. 

Crucifixion. Cathedral at Mechlin, Belgium. 

St. Augustine. Church of the Jesuits, Antwerp, p. 139. 

RUISDAEL. 

*The Thicket. Louvre, p. 147. 
*The Ray of Sunshine. Louvre, p. 147. 
Marine. Berlin. 



274 A LIST OF IMPORTANT WORKS. 

Storm at Sea. Berlin. 

View of Haarlem. Berlin. 
*View of a River. Van der Hoop Collection, Amsterdam, pp. 148, 
150. 

Jewish Cemetery. Dresden, pp. 150, 152. 

The Monastery. Dresden, p. 150. 
*The Hunt. Dresden, pp. 150, 151. 
*The Tempest. Louvre. 
*The Wood. Vienna, p. 150. 

Cascade. Cassel, Germany, p. 149. 



REMBRANDT. 

♦Portraits of Himself. Louvre ; ♦Berlin, p. 157 ; National Gal- 
lery; St. Petersburg; Buckingham Palace, England ; Vienna; 
Dresden; Cassel; Munich. 
♦Portraits of Saskia. Berlin ; Dresden ; Cassel, Germany, 

p. 160. 
♦Portrait of Rembrandt's Mother. Vienna; St. Petersburg, 

p. 161. 
♦Portrait of Elizabeth Bas. Amsterdam, p. 100. 
♦Portrait of a Young Man. Louvre. 
♦Holy Family. Louvre, p. 158; Munich, p. 155. 

Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph. Cassel, p. 164. 

Five Pictures on the Passion of Christ. Munich. 

The Good Samaritan. Louvre, p. 161. 

Tobias. Louvre, p. 156. 

Presentation in the Temple. The Hague, Holland, p. 155. 
♦The Night Watch. Amsterdam, p. 158. 
♦The Disciples at Emmaus. Louvre, p. 162. 

The Storm. Brunswick, Germany, p. 159. 

Jewish Fiancee. Amsterdam, p. 163. 
♦The Philosopher. Louvre. 
♦The Syndics. Amsterdam, pp. 164, 165. 

St. Paul in Prison. Stuttgart, Germany, p. 154. 

Story of Samson. Dresden; Berlin, p. 156. 

Christ Appearing to the Magdalen. Brunswick, p. 161. 

Lessons in Anatomy, p. 156. 



A LIST OF IMPORTANT WORKS. 275 



HOLBEIN. 

Erasmus. *Louvre ; *Hampton Court, p. 181 ; Basle, Switzerland ; 
Turin, Italy; Vienna; *Longford Castle, England, p. 181. 

Jane Seymour. Vienna, p. 188. 
*Luther. National Gallery, p. 190. 
*Nicholas Kratzer. Louvre, pp. 185, 186. 

*Portrait of Himself. Uffizi ; Basle ; Duke of Buccleugh's Collec- 
tion, England, p. 190. 

Henry VIII. Hampton Court, England. 

Henry VIII. Hall of Barber Surgeons, Monkwell Street, London, 
p. 191. 

Holbein's Wife and Children. Basle. 
*George Gyzen. Berlin, p. 187. 

Richard Southwell. Uffizi, p. 188. 
*Anne of Cleves. Louvre, pp. 189, 190, 191. 
*Meyer Madonna. Dresden, pp. 182, 183. 

Jacob Meyer and his Wife. Berlin, p. 182. 

Solothurn Madonna. Grenchen, Switzerland, p. 182. 
*Sir Thomas More. Mr. Huth's Collection, England, p. 185. 

Sir Thomas Wyatt. Louvre, p. 185. 

Archbishop of Canterbury. Louvre, p. 185. 

Sir Henry Guilford. Windsor Castle, England, p. 185. 

Sir Bryan Tuke, Collection of Duke of Westminster, England, 
p. 185. 

Ambassadors. Longford Castle, p. 187. 
*Portrait of Morett. Dresden, p. 188. 

DURER. 

Jesus among the Doctors. Rome, p. 172. 
*Praying Hands. Vienna, p. 172. 

Martyrdom of Ten Thousand Saints. Belvedere, Vienna, p. 172. 
*Four Apostles. Munich, p. 177. 
*Adoration of the Trinity. Vienna, p. 173. 
*Adoration of the Magi. Uffizi, p. 171. 

Madonna with the Pear. Vienna, p. 174. 

Feast of the Rose Garlands. Prague, Austria, p. 171. 

Adam and Eve. Pitti Palace. 



276 A LIST OF IMPORTANT WORKS. 

•Portrait of Himself. Uffizi; Munich ; Madrid, pp. 169, 170. 
•Portrait of his Father. Uffizi ; Munich ; Frankfort, Germany, 
p. 109. 

Portrait of Melanchthon, p. 177. 

Portrait of Pirkheimer, p. 177. 

Portrait of Hans Imhof. Madrid. 

Portrait of Emperor Maximilian I. Vienna. 

Portrait of Wolgemuth. Munich. 

Lucretia. Munich, p. 174. 
•Rabbit. Corsini Gallery, Rome. 

VELASQUEZ. 

Philip IV. *Louvre; Madrid; Pitti; Vienna; National Gallery; 
St. Petersburg, pp. 196, 197. 
*l)on Carlos. Several interesting portraits at Madrid, p. 198. 
•Maria Theresa. Madrid, p. 198. 

Olivares. Prado, p. 198. 
•Portrait of a Sculptor. Prado. 

Innocent X. Rome, p. 198. 

Portrait of Himself. Uffizi, p. 199. 

Portrait of his Wife. Prado, p. 199. 

Portrait of his Daughter. Madrid, p. 199. 

Dwarfs and Buffoons. Prado, p. 200. 
•Menippus. Prado, p. 200. 
•Esop. Prado, pp. 200, 201. 

Forge of Vulcan. Prado, p. 200. 

Topers. Prado, p. 200. 

Mars. Prado, p. 200. 
•Reunion of Gentlemen. Louvre, p. 203. 

Maids of Donor. Prado. pp. 198, 204. 

Family of Velasquez. Vienna. 
*Tapestry Weavers. Prado, p. 203. 
•Surrender of Breda. Prado, p. 202. 

Infanta Margarita, p. 198. 

MURILLO. 

•Immaculate Conception. *Louvre ; Seville Museum ; Seville 
Cathedral; Madrid, pp. 208, 209. 210. 



A LIST OF IMPORTANT WORKS. 277 

*St. Anthony of Padua. Seville Museum, Seville Cathedral, p. 210 j 
Berlin. 

Madonna. Pitti Palace ; Dresden. 

St. John and the Lamb. Vienna, p. 214. 

Infant St. John. National Gallery; Madrid. 
*Infant Christ as the Good Shepherd. Madrid, p. 214. 
*Holy Family. Louvre ; National Gallery, p. 214 ; Madrid. 
*Guardian Angel. Seville Cathedral, p. 214. 

St. Francis and the Crucified Christ. Seville Museum, p. 214. 
*Genre Pictures at the *Louvre ; *National Gallery ; *Madrid ; 

Munich, p. 206. 
*Infant Christ and St. John. Madrid. 

Christ Child standing on a Globe. La Caridad, Madrid, p. 214 

Angel Kitchen. Louvre, p. 207. 

The Dream. Madrid, p. 212. 

The Fulfillment. Madrid, p. 212. 

St. Elizabeth of Hungary. Madrid, p. 213. 

Madonna of the Napkin. Madrid, p. 213. 

CLAUDE LORRAINE. 

*Ulysses Returning Chryseis to her Father. Louvre. 
*Landing of Cleopatra at Tarsus. Louvre. 
*Porcelain Dealers. Louvre, p. 220. 

Nuptials of Isaac and Rebecca. National Gallery. 
*Temple of Apollo on the Island of Delos. Doria Gallery, Rome. 
*View of the Campo Vaccino. Louvre, p. 220. 
*Embarkation of St. Ursula. National Gallery. 

* Ancient Port of Messina. Louvre, p. 221. 
*Queen of Sheba. National Gallery, pp. 222, 223. 

* Village Fete. Louvre, p. 221. 

MILLET. 

*Potato Gatherers. Boston, pp. 235, 238. 

Harvesters. Boston, p. 235. 
*Water Carrier. Paris, pp. 235, 238. 
*Church at Greville. Louvre, p. 239. 
*Springtime. Louvre, p. 239. 
*Gleaners. Louvre, pp. 235, 236, 237. 



278 A LIST OF IMPORTANT WORKS. 

Grafter. New York. 

Haymakers. Bought by M. Ledru-Rollin, p. 233. 

Peasants Going to Work. Glasgow. 

Man Winnowing Corn. Bought by M. Ledru-Rollin, p. 233. 

Sheep-shearing. Baltimore. 

Shepherdess. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 

Spinner. M. Coquelin Aine, Paris. 

Harvest of Beans. New York, p. 238. 
*Girl with New-born Lamb. Boston. 
*Man with Hoe. Brussels, pp. 235, 236. 

Death and the Woodcutter. Copenhagen, Denmark. 

Potato Planters. Private Collections. 

Woman Churning. Private Collections. 
*Feeding her Birds. Private Collections. 

Bathers. Louvre, p. 233. 
♦Angelus. Paris, pp. 235, 238, 239. 
♦Sower. Boston. Bought by Mr. Quincy A. Shaw, pp. 230. 235. 

SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 

(All in England.) 

Lord Heathfield. National Gallery, p. 251. 
♦Admiral Keppel. National Gallery; Grosvenor Gallery, p. 244. 
♦Portrait of Himself. National Gallery. 
♦Dr. Samuel Johnson. National Gallery, p. 251. 

James Boswell. National Gallery, p. 251. 
♦Oliver Goldsmith, p. 251. 

Edmund Burke. Collection of Wm. Maxted, Esq., p. 241. 
♦David Garrick. Collection of Louis Huth, Esq., p. 247. 
♦Duchess of Devonshire. Collection of Duke of Devonshire; Col- 
lection of Lord Spencer, pp. 245, 251 . 
♦Mrs. Siddons. Duke of Westminster's Collection, p. 247. 

Lady Cockburn and her Children. National Gallery, p. 251. 

Mrs. Pelham Feeding Chickens. Grosvenor Gallery, p. 249. 
♦Portraits of the Misses Gunning. Duke of Hamilton's Collection, 
p. 244. 

Kitty Fisher. Lord Ward's Collection, p. 251. 

Boy Reading. Lord Normanton's Collection, p. 243. 



A LIST OF IMPORTANT WORKS. 279 

*Infant Samuel. National Gallery, p. 252. 

*Simplicity. Grosvenor Gallery, p. 252. 

•StrawbeiTy Girl. Sir Richard Wallace's Collection, p. 252. 

*Penelope Boothby. Lord Ward's Collection, p. 252. 

* Angel Choir. National Gallery, pp. 250, 251. 

*Age of Innocence. National Gallery, p. 252. 

*Holy Family. National Gallery, p. 2M. 

Graces Decorating a Figure of Hymen. National Gallery. 

A Snake in the Grass. National Gallery. 

TURNER. 

(All belong to the National Gallery except the Slave Shi}).) 

Apollo and Python, p. 260. 
*Ulysses and Polyphemus, p. 260. 

Garden of Hesperides, p. 259. 

Ancient Italy, p. 259. 
*Dido Building Carthage, p. 261. 
*Bay of Baiae, p. 259. 
*Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, p. 259. 

Caligula's Palace and Bridge. 

Venice, the Dogana, etc. 

Canal of Guidecca. 
•Cologne, pp. 259, 263. 

Coniston Fells, p. 263. 

Calais Pier. 
*Frosty Morning': Sunrise, p. 257. 
*Sun Rising in a Mist, p. 262. 

Bligh Sand. 

Battle of the Nile. 
•Heidelberg Castle, p. 259. 
•The Shipwreck, p. 262. 

Rain, Steam, and Speed. 
•Crossing the Brook, p. 257. 
•Fighting Temeraire, p. 262. 
•Slave Ship. Boston Art Museum. 



PRONUNCIATION OF PROPER NAMES. 



KEY. 



a as in fat 
a as in fate 
a as in far 
a as in fare 
e as in met 
e as in meet 
e as in her 
i as in pin 
i as in pine 
o as in not 



Allegri (al la'gre) . 
Angelico (an jel'e ko) . 
Antiope (antl'ope). 
Aragon (ar'a gon) . 
Aretino (arate'no). 
Arezzo (a ret' so). 
Assisi (a se'se). 

Baiae (ba'ye). 

Baldacchino (bal dak ke'no). 
Basle (ba'sel). 
Bellini (belle'ne). 
Bentivoglio (ben te vdl'yo) . 
Bologna (bo lon'ya) . 
Bolsena (bolsa'na). 
Borghese (borga'se). 
Bouillon (bolyon'). 
Brancacci (brancat'che). 
Breda (bra/ da). 
Brera (bra'r'a). 



o as m note 

o as in nor 

o as in spoon 

o a little shorter than o 

u as in tub 

v. as in mute 

n nasal 

g as in go 

g soft indicated by j 

t as in nature 



Bruges (bro'jez). 
Buonarotti (bo o n'ar ro'te). 
Byzantine (bi'zan tin) . 
Byzantium (bi zan'tium). 

C adore (ca dS're). 
Caliari (kale a' re). 
Caj>rese (kapra'se). 
Cimabue (che ma bb'a). 
Colonna (ko lon'n'a). 
Correggio (kor red'jo) . 
Croce, Santa (s'an't'a kro'che). 

Danae (dan' a e). 
Delaroche (d'larosh'). 
Diirer (dii'rer). 
Dyck, Van (van dik). 

Erasmus (eraz'mus). 
Eyck, Van (van ik). 



281 



282 



PRONUNCIATION OF PROPER NAMES. 



Farnesina (far na se'na). 
Fiesole (fe a' so le). 
Fiore (fe o're). 
Frari (frii're). 
Frey (frl). 

Ghent (gent). 

Ghirlandajo (gerl'an dii'yo). 
Giorgione (jor jo'ne). 
Giotto (jot' to). 
Gozzoli (got so'le). 
Granacci (gr'a nat'che). 
Grazia (gra'tsa). 

Haarlem (h'ar'lem). 
Hals (hals). 

Heidelberg (hi'delberg). 
Heliodorus (he li 6 do'rus). 
Holbein (hol'bin). 

Langlois (lohglw'a'). 

Lisa, Mona (mo'nii le's'a). 

Loggie (loj'ja). 

Lorraine, Claude (klod loran'). 

Luini (lo e'ne). 

Maaseyck (ma' sic). 
Mantegna (man tan'yii). 
Medici, de' (da med'e che). 
Melanchthon (me langk'thon). 
Meyer (mi'er). 

Michelangelo (mi kel an'je 16). 
Millet (me'ya'). 
Murano (mora' no). 
Murillo (muril'o). 

Novella, Santa Maria (san'ta 
ma re 'a novel' la). 



Orvieto (or ve a'to) . 

Pace (pa'che). 
Pacheco (pacha'ko). 
Padua (pa' do ii). 
Perugino (paroje'no). 
Pietro (pe a'tro). 
Pirkheimer (perk hi'mer). 
Podesta (podesta'). 
Polyphemus (pol y fe'mus). 
Poussin (po sah'). 

Raphael (ra'fa el). 

Rembrandt van Rijn (rem'brant 

van rin). 
Reynolds (ren'oldz). 
Rubens (ro'benz). 
Ruisdael (rois'diil). 

Santi (siin'te). 

Sanzio (s'an'se o). 

Saskia Uilenburg (sas'ki a 

6 i'len borg). 
Savonarola (s'a vo na ro'la). 
Schongauer (schon'gou er). 
Scrovegni (scro van'ye). 
Settignano (set tin ya' no). 
Sforza (sfort'sa). 

Temeraire (tamara'r). 
I Titian (tish'an). 
I Trafalgar (traf al gar'). 

Treviso (tra ve'so). 

Uffizi (of fed'ze). 

Vaccino (viitche'iio). 
Vecchio, Palazzo (pa l'at's5 
vek'ke o). 



PRONUNCIATION OF PROPER NAMES. 



233 



Vecelli, Tiziano (tet se a'rio 

va chel'le). 
Velasquez (va las'kath). 
Verocchio (varok'keo). 
Veronese (va ro na'se). 
Vespignano (ves pin y'a'no) . 
Vicchio (vik'ke o). 



Vicenza (ve chent'z'a). 

Vinci, Leonardo da (le o nar'do 

da vin'che). 
Volterra (vol ter'ra) . 

Wolgemut (vol gemot'). 



INDEX. 



Adam, 51, 56, 75; and Eve, 118, 

120. 
Adoration of the Kings, The, 26, 

27. 
Adoration of the Lamb, The, 118, 

119. 
Adoration of the Magi, Tlie, Diirer, 

171. 
— =— Reynolds, 249. 

Velasquez, 194. 

Adoration of the Shepherds, The, 

194. 
Adoration of the Trinity, The, 173. 
JEsop, 200, 201. 
Age of Innocence, The, 252. 
Allegri, Antonio, 31, 79-88, 154. 
Alphonso of Avalos, 92. 
Alphonso of Ferrara, 90, 92. 
Ambassadors, The, 187. 
Ancient Italy, 259. 
Ancient Port of Messina, The, 221. 
Angel Choir, The, 250, 251. 
Angel from the Madonna of the 

Great Tabernacle, 21. 
Angelico, Fra, 18-31, 115, 226, 232. 
Angels from the Baptism of Christ, 

32, 33, 34. 
Angelus, The, 235, 238. 
Angosciola, Sophonisba, 139. 
Anne of Cleves, 189-191. 
Annunciation, The, Fra Angelico, 

26, 27. 

Titian, 102. 

Rubens, 129. 

Annunziata, The Sacristy of the, 

22. 
Antonello of Messina, 117. 
Antwerp, 127. 



Apollo and the Python, 260. 

Apollo and the Muses on Parnas- 
sus, 69, 70. 

Apostles, The Four, 177. 

Aragon, Jeanne of, 74. 

Arena Chapel, 7-12. 

Aretino, Pietro, 99, 101, 108. 

Ariosto, 98. 

Arnolfini, Jean, 123. 

Ascension, The, 81. 

Assisi, 6, 7. 

Assumption of the Virgin, The, 
Correggio, 81. 

Titian, 94, 95, 102. 

Augsburg, 167, 180. 

Bacchus and Ariadne, 90 ; Bac- 
chus, 200. 

Baptism of Christ, The, 32, 33, 34. 

Barbara, The Villa, 105. 

Barbizon, 233. 

Bas, Elizabeth, 160. 

Basle, 181. 

Bathers, The, 233. 

Battle for the Standard, The, 41. 

Bay ofBaice, The, 259. 

Beggars, Murillo's pictures of, 206, 
207. 

Bella, 100. 

Bellini, John, 88, 172, 192. 

Bell Tower of Santa Maria del 
Fiore, 12. 

Bentivoglio, Cardinal, 139, 220. 

Bologna, 50, 99. 

Bolsena, The 3Iass of 70. 

Bondone, Giotto, 1-18, 31, 37. 

Boonen, A Woman of the Family 
of, 134. 



285 



286 



INDEX. 



Borgia, Caesar, 40. 

Lucretia, 98. 

Borgo Allegri, The, 3. 

Borgo, The Chamber of the Fir( 

in the, 71. 
Boswell, James, 246, 251. 
Boucher, 231. 
Boy Beading, 243. 
Brancacci Chapel, The, 49. 
Brant, Isabella, 127. 
Breda, The Surrender of, 202. 
Bristol, The Count of, and Van 

Dyck, 142. 
Broker's Patent, The, 93. 
Buffoons by Velasquez, 200. 
Buonarotti, Michelangelo, 31, 41, 

44, 46-64, 66, 74, 87, 90, 110, 

226. 
Burke, Edmund, 241. 
Byzantine Art, 4-8, 114. 

Cadore, 88, 101. 

Caliare, Paolo, 103. 

Campo Vaccino, View of the, j 

220. 
Cana, Tlie Marriage at, 107, 112, 

113. 
Canterbury, The Archbishop of, 

185 ; Palace of, 255. 
Caprese, 46. 
Caridad, La, 213. 
Carlos, Don, 198. 
Cascade, The, 149. 
Chapu, Henri Michel, 240. 
Charlemagne, 174. 
Charles L, 142; Children of, 138, 

142 ; and Henrietta Maria, 142. 
Charles V., 99. 
Chastity, 7, 

Childe Harold's Bilgrimage, 259. 
Children of Charles L, 138, 

142. 
Children with the Lamb, 214. 



Christ as Judge, Fra Angelico, 

28. 

Michelangelo, 59-63. 

Christ Child, The, 214, 215. 
Christ, Head of, Leonardo da 

Vinci, 38, 39. 

Van Eyck, 123. 

Christian II., 175. 

Christ in the Garden, 26. 

Christ, Life of, Fra Angelico, 23. 

26. 

Giotto, 8. 

Raphael, 71. 

Christ, The Baptism of, 32, 33. 
Christ, The Passion of, Diirer, 

178. 

Rembrandt, 156. 

Cimabue, Giovanni, 1-7, 44. 
Clement VII., Pope, 99. 
Cleves, The Duchess of, 189-191. 
Cockburn, Lady, 251. 
Colleoni, 31. 
Cologne, 259, 263. 
Colonna, Vittoria, 62. 
Coniston Fells, 263. 
Constantino The Battle of 71. 
Cornaro, Catherine, 98. 
Coronation of the Virgin, The, 

Diirer, 173. 

Fra Angelico, 20-22, 26. 

Giotto, 11, 13. 

Raphael, 71. 

Velasquez, 200. 

Veronese, 104. 

Correggio, 31, 79-88, 154. 
Cortona, 18, 19. 
Crevelli, Lucrezia, 39. 
Crossing the Brook, 257. 
Crucifixion, The, Fra Angelico, 

24, 25. 

Raphael, 65. 

Cupids Sharpening their Arrows, 

85, 86. 



INDEX. 



287 



Danae, Correggio, 85. 

■ Titian, 90. 

Dance of Death, The, 190. 

Dante, 16, 49, 59. 

Darius, The Family of, 112. 

David, The Statue of, 31. 

Day, 82. 

Delaroche, 229, 231. 

Descent from the Cross, The, 129, 

130, 131, 216. 
Devonshire, The Duchess of, 215, 

251. 
Diana, 80. 
Dianti, Laura di, 92. 
Dido Building Carthage, 261. 
Disciples at Emmaus, The, 161, 

162. 
Discipline, 25. 
Disputa, The, 173. 
Dream, The, 212. 
Dresden Altarpiece, The, 169. 
Ducal Palace, The, 110, 111. 
Duchess of Devonshire and her 

Child, The, 245, 251. 
Diirer, Albrecht, 88, 167-180, 192, 

231. 
Diirer, Portrait of Himself, 170. 
Dutch Art, 146. 
Dwarfs by Velasquez, 200. 
Dyck, Anthony van, 137-146, 243. 

Ecce Homo, 85. 

Embarkation of the Queen of 

Sheba, The, 222, 223. 
Emmaus, The Disciples at, 161, 

162. 
Emmaus, The Supper at, 112. 
Entombment, The, Giotto, 11. 

Titian, 96. 

Van Dyck, 139. 

Erasmus, 176, 181. 
Esther, The Story of, 104. 
Europa, The Bape of, 109, 111. 



Eyck, Hubert and Jan van, 114- 

124. 
Ezekiel, The Vision of, 76. 

Feast of the Bose Garlands, The, 

171. 
Feasts, Pictures of, by Veronese, 

108-111. 
Ferronniere, La Belle, 39, 40. 
Fidelity, 111. 
Fiesole, 18, 20. 
Eiesole, Da (Fra Angelico), 18- 

31, 115, 226, 232. 
Fighting Temeraire, The, 258, 

262. 
Fisher, Kitty, 251. 
Flemish Art, 114, 115. 
Flight into Egypt, The, 80. 
Flora, 91, 92. 

Flower Girls, by Murillo, 206, 207. 
"Folly, The Praise of," 181. 
Fonseca, Count de, 195. 
Fortitude, 111. 
Fortune Teller, The, 249. 
Fountain of Health, The, 182. 
Francis I., 42, 99. 
Francisca, Daughter of Velasquez, 

199. 
Fresco Painting, 8. 
Frey, Agnes, 169. 
Frosty Morning : Sunrise, 257. 
Fulfillment, The, 212. 

Gainsborough, 247. 

Galatea, 72. 

Galerini, Cecilia, 39. 

Gandy, William, 243. 

Garden of Hesperides, The, 259. 

Garrick, David, 247, 251. 

Gelhie, Claude, 218-226, 256, 257, 

262. 
Genre Painters, 155. 
George III., 248, 249. 



288 



German Trading House, The, 89, 

171. 
Gervartius, 141, 143. 
Ghent, The Altarpiece of, 117-122. 
Ghirlandajo, Domenico, 47. 
Giorgione, 88, 139. 
Giotto, 1-18, 31, 37. 
Girl in Black, The, 106, 112. 
Girtin, Thomas, 254. 
Gleaners, The, 235, 236, 237. 
Golden Bough, The, 259. 
Goldsmith, Oliver, 241, 246, 251. 
Gomez, Sebastian, 214. 
Gordon Family,. The, 243. 
Gozzoli, Benozzo, 28. 
Granacci, Francesco, 47, 49. 
Greville, Church at, 239. 
Gruchy, 227, 229. 
Guardian Angel, TJie, 214. 
Guilford, Sir Henry, 185. 
Gunning, The Misses, 244. 
Gyzen, George, 187. 

Hals, Frans, 140, 158. 

Hamilton, The Duchess of, 244. 

Harvesters, The, 235, 238. 

Harvest of Beans, The, 238. 

Haymakers, The, 233. 

Head of Christ, The, 38. 

Heathfield, Lord, 251. 

Heidelberg, 259. 

Heliodorus, The Expulsion of, 70. 

Henry VIII. and the Barber Sur- 
geons, 190. 

Hercules and the Stymphalian 
Birds, 169. 

Holbein, Hans, 180-193. 

Holy Family of St. George, The, 
127. 

Holy Family, The, Michelangelo, 
52. 

Murillo, 214. 

Rembrandt, 155. 



Holy Family, Tlie, "Reynolds, 244. 

Van Dyck, 143. 

Holy Night, The, 82, Frontispiece. 
Hospitality, 25. 
Hudson, Thomas, 242. 
Hunt, The, 150, 151. 
Hunt, William Morris, 234. 

Illumination, The Art of, 18, 114. 

Immaculate Conception, The, 208, 
209, 210. 

Immortality, 106. 

Industry, 111. 

Infanta Margarita, The, 197, 198. 

Infanta Maria Theresa, 198. 

Infant Christ as the Good Shep- 
herd, The, 214. 

Infant (Edipus Detached from the 
'Tree, The, 232. 

Infant Samuel, The, 252. 

Innocent X., 198. 

Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph, 

164. 
Jardiniere, La Belle, 66. 
Jeremiah, 58. 

Jes%is among the Doctors, 172. 
Jewish Cemetery, The, 150, 152. 
Jewish Fiancee, The, 163. 
Joachim and Anna, Life of, 8. 
Joachim Betiring to the Sheepfold, 

9, 10. 
Jocunda, La, 41, 42, 43, 44. 
Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 241, 246, 251. 
Joseph, The Story of, 156. 
Joseph, The Tunic of, 200. 
Judith, 89. 
Julius II., Pope, 52, 53, 66, 74, 

171. 
Jupiter and Antiope, 85. 
Jupiter and Io, 85. 
Jurisprudence, 70. 
Justin of Nassau, 202. 



INDEX. 



289 



Keppel, Admiral, 243, 244. 
Kratzer, Nicholas, 185, 186. 

Lamb of God, The, 117. 

Lances, The, 202. 

Langlois, 229. 

Last Judgment, The, Fra Angelico, 

23, 27. 

Giotto, 8. 

Michelangelo, 59-62. 

Rubens, 132. 

Last Supper, The, 37, 39. 
Lavinia, Daughter of Titian, 101. 
Lawrence, Sir Thomas, 264. 
Leo X., 74. 
Leonardo da Vinci, 31-46, 52, 66, 

80, 87, 231. 
Lesson in Anatomy, The, 156, 

159. 
"Liber Studiorum," 257. 
" Liber Veritatis," 224. 
Lisa, Mona, 41-45. 
Loggie of the Vatican, 71. 
Loredano, The Military Expedition 

of the Doge, 111. 
Lorraine, Claude, 218-226, 256, 

257, 262. 
Lucretia, 174. 
Luini, Bernardino, 45. 
Luther, 176, 182, 190. 



Madonna 

116. 
Madonna 
Madonna 

104. 
Madonna 
Madonna 

vent of 
Madonna 
Madonna 
Madonna 
Madonna 



and Donor, TJie, 114- 

and Donors, The, 143. 
and Two Saints, The, 

Baldacchino, The, 66. 
della Grazia, The Con- 
tbe, 37. 

Enthroned, The, 112. 
, Meyer, The, 182-184. 
of St. Francis. 80. 
of St. Sebastian, 82. 



Madonna of the Chair, The, 66, 

67. 
Madonna of the Cup, The, 82. 
Madonna of the Goldfinch, Tlie, 

66. 
Madonna of the Grand Duke, The, 

66. 
Madonna of the Great Tabernacle, 

The, 20, 21, 27. 
Madonna of the Napkin, The, 

213. 
Madonna of the Stars, The, 

27. 
Madonna, The, Cimabue, 3, 5. 

Correggio, 80, 82. 

Diirer, 174. 

Fra Angelico, 20, 27. 

Holbein, 182-184. 

Murillo, 213. 

Raphael, 66, 67, 75-77. 

Titian, 98. 

Van Dyck, 143. 

Van Eyck, 114, 116, 123. 

Veronese, 104, 112. 

Madonna, The Pesaro, 98. 
Madonna, The Sistine, 66, 75-77. 
Madonna, The Solothurn, 182. 
Madonna with Partridges, The, 

143. 
Magdalen, Christ Appearing to 

the, 161. 
Magdalen, The, 96. 
Magdalen, The, in the Descent 

from the Cross, 130. 
Magdalen, The Beading, 85. 
Maids of Honor, The, 198, 204. 
Mantegna, Andrea, 80. 
Mantua, The Duke of, 96, 125. 
Man Winnowing Corn, The, 233. 
Man with a Glove, The, 100. 
Margarita, The Infanta, 197, 198. 
Marines by Ruisdael, 150. 
Marolle, Alexandre, 231. 



290 



INDEX. 



Marriage, The Mystic, of St. 

Catherine, 82-85. 
Mars, 200. 

Maximilian, Emperor, 174. 
Medici, Cosimo cle', 23. 

Lorenzo de', 48, 49. 

Marie de', 132. 

Piero de', 50. 

Medusa, 34. 

Melanchthon, 176, 177, 178. 

Mem ling, Hans, 123. 

Menippus, 200. 

Meyer, Jacob, 182. 

Meyer Madonna, The, 182-184. 

Michelangelo Buonarotti, 31, 41, 

44, 46-63, 64, 66, 74, 87, 90, 110, 

226. 
Milan, The Duchess of, 188. 
Military Expedition of the Doge 

Loredano, The, 111. 
Millet, Jean Frangois, 226-241. 
Moderation, 111. 
Mona Lisa, 41-45. 
Monastery, The, 150. 
More, Sir Thomas, 184, 185. 
Murillo, 205-218. 
Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine, 

The, 82-85. 

Nicholas Kratzer, 185, 186. 
Nicholas V., The Chapel of, 28, 

20. 
Night Watch, The, 158, 159. 
Noli me Tangere, 85. 
Norham Castle, 255. 
Nunziata Convent, 42. 
Nuremberg, 167. 

Obedience, 7. 
O'Brien, Nelly, 251. 
Oil Colors, Use of, 117. 
Olivares, 195, 198. 
Orvieto, 28. 



Pacheco, 193. 

Padua, 7. 

Paradise, 16. 

Parma, 79-81. 

Paul HI., Pope, 99. 

Pauline Frescoes. 63. 

Pelham, Mrs., 249. 

Penelope Boothby, 252. 

Perugino, Pietro, 64, 69. 

Philip IV., 196, 209. 

Philip the Good, 122. 

Philosophy, 69. 

Pimental, 198. 

Pirkheimer, 169, 177. 

Poetry, 69. 

Porcelain Dealers, The, 220. 

Potato Gatherers, The, 235, 238. 

Poussin, 226. 

Poverty, 7. 

Praying Hands, The, 172. 

Presentation in the Temple, The, 

155. 
Prince of Wales, The, 189. 
Prince Rupert of the Rhine, 142. 
Prodigal Son, The Return of the, 

213." 
Prophets on the Sistine Ceiling, 54, 

57, 58. 

Baising of the Cross, TJie, 129. 
Bape ofEuropa, The, 109, 111. 
Raphael, Portrait of Himself, 73, 

74. 
Raphael Sanzio, 31, 44, 55, 64-79, 

87, 100, 110, 175, 194. 
Raphael's Bible, 71. 
Bay of Sunshine, A, 147. 
Rembrandt, Portrait of Himself, 

157. 
Rembrandt Van Ryn, 153-167, 263. 
Bepose in Egypt, The, 143, 144. 
Reunion of Gentlemen, A, 203. 
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 241-253. 



INDEX. 



291 



Biding Lesson, Tlie, 232. 

Bivers of France, The, 256. 

Rogers, Author of "Italy," 256. 

Romano, Guilio, 71. 

Rousseau, 234, 240. 

Royal Academy, The, 248, 249, 

255. 
Rubens, Peter Paul, 41, 72, 124- 

138, 145, 166, 193. 
Ruisdael, Jacob Van, 146-222, 

255. 

Sacred and Profane Love, 92. 

St. Anthony, Church of, 89. 

St. Anthony of Padua, 210, 211. 

St. Anthony, The~Vision of, 210, 
211. 

St. Augustine, 139. 

St. Bavon, The Altarpiece of, 
117. 

St. Catherine, The Marriage of, 
Correggio, 82-85. 

Murillo, 216. 

St. Cecilia, Raphael, 76. 

Rubens, 132, 135. 

Van Eyck, 118, 121. 

St. Christopher, 96, 97. 

St. Clara, TJie Death of, 207. 

St. Cosimo, 26. 

St. Dominic, 18, 19, 24, 26, 172. 

St. Elizabeth, 180. 

St. Elizabeth of Hungary, 213. 

St. Francis, 6, 7, 227. 

St. Francis, 213. 

St. George, 65; The Holy Fam- 
ily of, 127. 

St. Helena, 112. 

St. Ildefonso, The Virgin Appear- 
ing to, 132. 

St. Jerome, 82. 

St. John, 176, 177. 

St. John and the Lamb, 214. 

St. John the Baptist, 25. 



St. John the Evangelist, 11 ; Church 

of, 80, 81. 
St. Lawrence, 25, 28, 29. 
St. Mark, 25, 177. 
St. Martin, Van Dyck's Picture of, 

139. 
St. Michael, 65. 
St. Paul, 76, 154, 177 v 
St. Peter, 24, 70, 71, 136, 176, 

177. 
St. Sebastian, 84 ; Church of, 104 ; 

Altarpiece of, 180. 
St. Stephen, 28, 29, 71. 
Saints, The Martyrdom of Ten 

Thousand, 172. 
Samaritan, The Good, 161. 
Samson, The Story of, 156. 
Sanby, Paul, 254. 
Sandrart, 220, 225. 
San Marco, Convent of, 23, 24. 
Santa Barbara, 75, 180. 
Santa Croce, The Church of, 11, 

63. 
Santa Cruz, The Church of, 216. 
Santa Maria del Fiore, 12. 

de' Frari, 95, 98, 102. 

della Pace, 72. 

Novella, 4, 47. 

Sopra Minerva, 30. 

Santiago, The Order of, 204. 
Sanzio, Raphaello, 31, 44, 55, 64- 

78, 87, 100, 110, 175, 194. 
Saskia Uilenburg, 156, 160. 
Savonarola, 49, 59. 
Schongauer, Martin, 48. 
School of Athens, The, 69. 
Scrovegni, Enrico, 7. 
Settignano, 46. 
Seville, 207. 
Seymour, Jane, 188. 
Sforza, Statue of Francesco, 36. 
Sheba, The Embarkation of the 

Queen of, 222, 223. 



292 



INDEX. 



Shipwreck, The, 261, 262. 
Sibyls on Sistine Ceiling, 56, 58. 
Siddons, Mrs., 247. 
Sigismund, Emperor, 174. 
Silence, 24. 
Simplicity, 252. 

Sistine Chapel, The, 47, 52, 53-59. 
Snow, The Statue of, 50. 
Soderino, Pietro, 40. 
Southwell, Sir Richard, 188. 
Sower, The, 230, 235, 238. 
Spinola, Count, 202. 
Springtime, 239. 
Stoffels, Hendricka, 162. 
Storm, The, 159. 
Strawberry Girl, The, 249, 252. 
Straw Hat, The, 127, 128, 134. 
Sun Rising in a 3Iist, The, 262. 
Syndic Meerstaten, The, 140. 
Syndics of the Cloth Hall, The, 156, 
164, 165. 

Tapestries, The Sistine, 71, 72 ; 

Cartoons for, 71, 72. 
Tapestry Weavers, The, 203. 
Temeraire, The Fighting, 258, 

262. 
Tempera, Painting in, 11, 35. 
Temple of Castor and Pollux, 

The, 225. 
Trm pie of Minerva, The, 259. 
Theology, 68. 
Thicket, The, 147. 
Titian, 88-103, 104, 105, 139, 154, 

161, 172. 
Tobias, The Story of, 156. 
Topers, The, 200. 
Trafalgar, 262. 

Transfiguration, The, 64, 76, 78. 
Treviso^ 104. 
Tribute Money, The, 89. 
Trinity, The, 125 ; The Adoration 

of the, ITi. 



Triumph of Poverty, The, 187. 
Triumph of Riches, The, 187. 
Triumph of the Catholic Church, 

The, 122. 
Tuke, Sir Bryan, 185. 
Tulp, Dr. 156, 159. 
Turner, J. W. M., 253-265. 

Urbino, 64. 

Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus, 
260. 

Van der Geest, 141. 

Vatican, Kaphael's frescoes at the, 

68-71. 
Vecchio, The Palazzo, 40, 41, 52. 
Vecelli, Tiziano, 88-103, 104, 105, 

139, 154, 161, 172. 
Velasquez, Don Diego de Silva, 

193-205, 207. 
Venetia, Lady, 142. 
Venice, The Triumph of, 111, 

113. 
Venus and Mercury, 85. 
Venus de" 1 Medici, 90. 
Venus, Sleeping, 90. 
Verona, 103. 

Veronese, Paul, 103-114, 101. 
Verrocchio, 31. 
Vespignano, 1. 
Vicchio, 19. 
Vicenza, 104. 
Vicq, Baron le, 134. 
View of a Eiver, 148, 150. 
Vigilance, 111. 
Village Fete, The, 221. 
Vinci, Leonardo da, 31-46, 52, 66, 

80, 87, 231. 
Violin Player, The, 74. 
Virgin in the Lap of St. Anne, 42, 

43. 
Virgin, Life of the, 8. 
Virgin Reading, 122. 



INDEX. 



293 



Virgin, Marriage of the, 65. 
Virgin, Presentation of the, 89, 90. 
Virgin, The, of the Bocks, 40, 44. 
Volterra, Daniele, 61, 130. 
Vulcan, The Forge of, 200. 
Vyts Judocus, 117, 118, 120. 

Water Carrier, The, 235, 238. 
Water Carriers, The, 194. 
Watteau, 231. 



Windmill, The, 159. 
Winter Effect, A, 159. 
Wolgemut, 168, 174. 
Woodcuts, Diirer's, 174, 178. 
Wood, The, 150. 
Wyatt, Sir Thomas, 185, 187. 

Zacharias, 57, 58. 
Zeuxis, 14. 
Zingarella, La, 80. 



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